Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- China's defense ministry condemned a planned U.S. arms sale to Taiwan and protested a Pentagon official's remark that the sale was consistent with U.S. law, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The ministry was ``firmly opposed'' to comments by Pentagon spokesman Stuart Upton that the sale was in line with the Taiwan Relations Act, Xinhua said late today in a report on its Web site, citing Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping.

``We are strongly dissatisfied and opposed to the Pentagon spokesman's remarks,'' Xinhua quoted Huang as saying. ``The so- called `Taiwan Relations Act' severely runs counter to the principles of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and the fundamental norms governing international relations.''

The U.S. government notified Congress Oct.3 about its plan to sell arms to Taiwan, including Patriot III anti-missile systems, an E-2T airborne early warning aircraft upgrade system, Apache helicopters and other equipment, Xinhua said.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei has summoned the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy to China to protest the move, Xinhua said.

Editor: Kevin Costelloe

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Last Updated: October 9, 2008 13:08 EDT