“I remain deeply concerned about the administration’s delays that needlessly dragged out this process”, said Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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The authorisation on Wednesday came a year after Congress passed legislation approving the sale.
The previous USA arms package included upgrades for Taiwan’s Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters to the latest standards, among other items.
The sale marks the first time in four years that the United States has shipped missiles to Taiwan, a remarkably long gap in arm sales in nearly 40 years.
Hong said such sales “damaged the peaceful development of ties across the Taiwan Strait and Sino-US ties and said Beijing urged Washington “to earnestly recognize the high sensitivity and serious harm of weapons sales to Taiwan”.
China considers Taiwan a part of Chinese territory to be eventually unified with, by force if necessary.
The US has said in the past that it will defend Taiwan in case of a possible military invasion by China.
Plans by Chinese state- backed Tsinghua Unigroup to invest US$2.6 billion (S$3.7 billion) in Taiwan should not be politicised, China’s government has said, after the front runner in the island’s January presidential polls said they posed a “huge threat”.
One of the aides said the planned $1.8 billion sale would include two decommissioned U.S. Navy frigates, minesweepers, Stinger missiles, and anti-armor and anti-tank missiles.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the transaction as interference in China’s internal affairs on Tuesday, calling it harmful to relations between Beijing and Washington.
The notification is consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, and its support for Taiwan’s ability to maintain a sufficient self-defence capability, he added.
“U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are guided by the Taiwan Relations Act and based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs”, McKeeby said. That drew a high-level diplomatic protest from Beijing, which suspended some military exchanges with the United States.
The U.S. said the deal does not indicate a change in U.S. policy toward China that would alter normalized relations between the two countries.
Kirby said Washington wanted to work to establish a “better, more transparent more effective relationship” with China in the region and had been in contact with both Taiwan and China on this on Wednesday.
“We make decisions about arms sales to Taiwan without advance consultations with China, and as for Taiwan’s elections, that’s clearly a matter for the people of Taiwan to decide”, said a State Department spokesman.
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Relations between Beijing and Taipei have warmed under current Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party.
