China Summons U.S. Envoy Over $1.83 Billion Arms Sale to Taiwan
- Companies involved in sale will be sanctioned, China says
- U.S. says sale based on asssessment of Taiwan's defense needs
A Taiwanese sailor cleans the deck next to missile batteries on board the ROCS Lan Yang (FFG-935), a US-made Knox-class frigate that formerly served in the US Navy as the USS Joseph Hewes and transferred to Taiwan in 1999, at the naval base in northern Keelung on December 17, 2015. China said December 17 it had summoned a senior US envoy in protest at Washington's announcement that it would sell two warships to Taiwan as part of a $1.8 billion arms deal. The US State Department said it intended to sell Taipei two Perry-class Frigates, Javelin anti-tank missiles, TOW 2B anti-tank missiles, AAV-7 Amphibious Assault Vehicles and a range of other military equipment. AFP PHOTO / Sam Yeh / AFP / SAM YEH (Photo credit should read SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty ImagesChina protested the sale of $1.83 billion in arms to Taiwan, summoning a U.S. diplomat to the foreign ministry to lodge a formal complaint and saying the country would impose sanctions on companies involved.
Kaye Lee, the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires, was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang expressed displeasure over the first U.S.-Taiwan weapons sale in four years, according to a statement on the ministry’s website. Such protests had been expected and the transaction wasn’t seen as likely to cause lasting damage in relations between Washington and Beijing.