BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) - China's embassy to the United States urged Washington to immediately revoke its "wrong decision" and halt $1.42 billion worth of planned arms sales to Taiwan.

"The Chinese government and Chinese people have every right to be outraged," the embassy said in a statement release late on Thursday, adding that the sale sends a very wrong message to "Taiwan independence" forces.

The United States is the sole arms supplier to Taiwan, which China deems its own. It has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Thursday told reporters the administration had told Congress of seven proposed sales, the first such sale under the administration of Donald Trump. (Reporting by Christian Shepherd)</s>BEIJING, June 30 (Reuters) - China reacted relatively calmly on Friday after a series of diplomatic broadsides by the United States, expressing anger over new arms sales by Washington to Taiwan but hoping ties could soon be brought back on track.

U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inability to restrain North Korea's arms and missile programmes.

This week, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea's weapons programmes, announced a $1.4 billion arms sale for Taiwan, and said it would like sick Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to be treated "elsewhere".

It has also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking and forced labour and senior U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is considering trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on steel imports.

Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at China.

It's a long way from the "bromance" that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to have at their first summit in April. Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties in the meeting at his Florida residence and subsequently called Xi a "good man".

While China said it was "outraged" at the arms sales for Taiwan, and upset with the North Korea-related sanctions, it did not make specific threats of retaliation. In 2010, Beijing threatened to sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to Taiwan after Washington announced a much bigger $6.4 billion arms package.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he hoped the United States can correct its mistakes and get ties back on track "so as to avoid cooperation in important areas being impacted". He did not elaborate.

Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, cautioned against interpreting recent events as indicating a shift in China-U.S. relations, saying it was still too early to tell.

"We had a good first summit and a good beginning but the relationship in the long run is characterised by not just cooperation but also conflict," Jia said.

"Arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Sea and East China Sea, and other problems in the relationship will appear. It's a question of how much the two countries will be able to manage these conflicts, whether they can manage them better than the previous administration."

Trump and Xi are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit in the Germany city of Hamburg.

China has long been cautious about Trump, China-based diplomatic sources say, believing he is unpredictable and needs to be handled with care.

"How does the Chinese government view Trump? We're still discovering who he is. He often does things we can't predict. We're not clever enough to predict what he'll do," said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai's elite Fudan University.

Trump upset China even before taking office, taking a call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning decades of precedent of no high-level official contacts between the United States and an island China considers to be a wayward province.

While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law.

"The U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan is routine," said Shen. "They're selling much less than before, and that's much better. So I don't think there's anything too terrible about that."

Still, the risks around Taiwan are profound.

China's Defence Ministry, responding to the U.S. weapons sales, said Taiwan was the "most important, most sensitive core issue" between the United States and China.

The arms sale came hot on the heels of a U.S. Senate committee approving a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since Washington ditched Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1979.

While China's Defence Ministry registered its opposition to the bill on Thursday, spokesman Wu Qian pointed out that as long as they respect each other's core concerns, the Chinese and U.S. militaries can be an "engine of stability" for the two countries. Shi Yinhong, who heads the Centre for American Studies at Beijing's Renmin University and has advised the government on diplomacy, said it was important people are realistic about the challenges China and the United States face.

"Perhaps people appraised too highly the Xi-Trump meeting. Although the atmosphere was very good, there were still real problems there," Shi said, referring to the Florida summit.

"Maybe you can say that China-U.S. relations have gone back to being normal," Shi added. "Trump has no patience, and nobody can be surprised that he's pushed certain issues to the fore." (Additional reporting by Gao Liangping; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)</s>U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inability to restrain North Korea's arms and missile programs.

This week, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea's weapons programs, announced a $1.4 billion arms sale for Taiwan, and said it would like sick Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to be treated "elsewhere".

It has also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking and forced labor and senior U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is considering trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on steel imports.

Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at China.

It's a long way from the "bromance" that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to have at their first summit in April. Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties in the meeting at his Florida residence and subsequently called Xi a "good man". [nL4N1I05T1]

While China said it was "outraged" at the arms sales for Taiwan, and upset with the North Korea-related sanctions, it did not make specific threats of retaliation. In 2010, Beijing threatened to sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to Taiwan after Washington announced a much bigger $6.4 billion arms package.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he hoped the United States can correct its mistakes and get ties back on track "so as to avoid cooperation in important areas being impacted". He did not elaborate.

Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, cautioned against interpreting recent events as indicating a shift in China-U.S. relations, saying it was still too early to tell.

"We had a good first summit and a good beginning but the relationship in the long run is characterized by not just cooperation but also conflict," Jia said.

"Arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Sea and East China Sea, and other problems in the relationship will appear. It's a question of how much the two countries will be able to manage these conflicts, whether they can manage them better than the previous administration."

Trump and Xi are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit in the Germany city of Hamburg.

China has long been cautious about Trump, China-based diplomatic sources say, believing he is unpredictable and needs to be handled with care.

"How does the Chinese government view Trump? We're still discovering who he is. He often does things we can't predict. We're not clever enough to predict what he'll do," said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai's elite Fudan University.

Trump upset China even before taking office, taking a call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning decades of precedent of no high-level official contacts between the United States and an island China considers to be a wayward province.

While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law.

"The U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan is routine," said Shen. "They're selling much less than before, and that's much better. So I don't think there's anything too terrible about that."

Still, the risks around Taiwan are profound.

China's Defense Ministry, responding to the U.S. weapons sales, said Taiwan was the "most important, most sensitive core issue" between the United States and China.

The arms sale came hot on the heels of a U.S. Senate committee approving a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since Washington ditched Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1979.

While China's Defense Ministry registered its opposition to the bill on Thursday, spokesman Wu Qian pointed out that as long as they respect each other's core concerns, the Chinese and U.S. militaries can be an "engine of stability" for the two countries.

Shi Yinhong, who heads the Center for American Studies at Beijing's Renmin University and has advised the government on diplomacy, said it was important people are realistic about the challenges China and the United States face.

"Perhaps people appraised too highly the Xi-Trump meeting. Although the atmosphere was very good, there were still real problems there," Shi said, referring to the Florida summit.

"Maybe you can say that China-U.S. relations have gone back to being normal," Shi added. "Trump has no patience, and nobody can be surprised that he's pushed certain issues to the fore."</s>The US’ decision to go ahead with the sale of a $1.4 billion arms package to Taiwan threatens to undermine US-Chinese relations, China’s ambassador to Washington said.

Speaking to the People’s Daily newspaper Thursday, Ambassador Cui Tiankai said recent US moves eroded the trust built when US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida in April.

“US arms sales to Taiwan and the sanctions against Chinese enterprises have damaged the basis and mutual trust between the two countries, it also contradicts the spirit and consensus of the two leaders’ meeting in Mar A Lago,” said Cui.

A statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that the sale of arms to Taiwan “grossly interferes” in China’s domestic affairs. “The Chinese side has lodged serious representation to the US side, and reserves every right to take further action,” read the statement.

On Thursday, the Trump administration notified Congress of its plans to go ahead with the controversial arms package, the first such sale under President Trump.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the agreement included “seven proposed defense sales for Taiwan,” adding that the deal was valued at “about $1.42 billion.”

A US official familiar with the deal told CNN that the package would include advanced missiles and torpedoes including the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon and MK 48 6AT Heavy Weight Torpedoes.

It will also include technical support for an early warning radar system.

The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, signaled strong support for the sale, calling it “long overdue” in a statement issued shortly after its announcement.

Congress has 30 days to raise any objections to the deal.

The announcement of the arms sale comes the same day the US Treasury Department announced a series of sanctions and measures that would among other things, sever US financial ties with China’s Bank of Dandong, which the administration claims acts as a pipeline to support alleged illicit North Korean financial activity.

Both announcements came during Trump’s meeting with South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-in at the White House. Both leaders are anxious to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile program.

The unexpected timing of the deal — which comes while Chinese President Xi is in Hong Kong commemorating the 20th anniversary of the city’s return to China — surprised many analysts. Zhang Baohui, professor of political science at Lingnan University, said until this week many high-profile Taiwanese had believed the US was moving away from them.

“(This arms deal) didn’t go through for a while and some people suspected it was due to Trump’s so-called reliance on China to resolve the North Korea issue … so I think this arms sale could boost confidence (in US),” he said.

China considers self-governing democratic Taiwan a renegade province and Beijing has not ruled out using military force to bring Taiwan under its rule.

The US does not recognize Taiwan — officially known as the Republic of China — as an independent country, and adheres to the “one China” policy, which means it does not maintain an official relationship with Taiwan.

Nauert added that there was no change to the “one China” policy.

“Today’s notifications are consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, and our support for Taiwan’s ability to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,” a US official familiar with the sale told CNN.

Under the Taiwan Relations Act the US is legally required to provide Taiwan with the ability to defend itself.

In a move that seemed to portend a shift in US policy, President-elect Trump spoke to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen in a phone call in December, upending decades of diplomatic protocol.

However, the Trump administration has since said that it remains committed to the decades-long “one China” policy.

China has long criticized US arms sales to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement Friday morning they were “sincerely grateful” for the US decision to go ahead with the arms deal.

“The arms sale was proposed by our country last year. The package includes eight types of equipment and system, which will boost our combat capabilities in air and sea,” the statement said.

The State Department also issued a statement marking the 20th anniversary of the transfer of Hong Kong from the UK to China, saying the US was “concerned about any infringements on civil liberties” in Hong Kong.

It is unknown how the announcements will impact on Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the meeting of the G20 next month.</s>The Trump administration plans to sell Taiwan just over $1.4 billion in weapons, while China's ambassador to the US has reportedly said the deal goes against the "spirit" of talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"The administration had formally notified Congress of seven proposed defense sales for Taiwan. It's now valued about $1.42 billion," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday, adding that there was no change to America’s long-standing "one-China" policy.

The weapons are to support the autonomous island’s self-defense capability, said the State Department.

The sale, when first announced in March, had already provoked criticism from Beijing that said the weapons won’t prevent the self-ruled island’s re-unification with China.

"Separatist Taiwan independence forces and their activities are the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in March. "It is futile to use weapons to refuse unification, and is doomed to have no way out."

Taiwan has been self-ruled since the end of China’s civil war in 1950, but Beijing has maintained its sovereignty over the island.

The weapons sale requires congressional approval, and comes two years after President Barack Obama announced a $1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan, provoking an angry reaction from China.

The previous package included two Navy frigates as well as anti-tank missiles and amphibious attack vehicles.

The US has pursued the so-called one-China policy since 1979 which meant that Washington agreed not to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Yet, the US has offered military support to the autonomous island despite Beijing’s objections.

Earlier on Thursday, China protested to Washington after a US Senate committee approved a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the US Navy for the first time since 1979.

In December, breaking the diplomatic embargo between Washington and Taipei, President Donald Trump accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's leader, Tsai Ing-wen.

It was the first contact between a leader of Taiwan and an incumbent or incoming US president in almost four decades, and caused a diplomatic uproar.

However, Trump agreed to honor the "one China" policy, and hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort in April.

The Trump administration has since demanded that Beijing put more pressure on North Korea to rein in its nuclear and missile programs.

Also on Thursday, Washington announced sanctions against a Chinese bank for allegedly laundering money for Pyongyang, and against two Chinese citizens as well as a shipping company for allegedly helping North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.</s>U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inability to restrain North Korea's arms and missile programs.

This week, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea's weapons programs, announced a $1.4 billion arms sale for Taiwan, and said it would like sick Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to be treated "elsewhere".

It has also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking and forced labor and senior U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is considering trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on steel imports.

Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at China.

It's a long way from the "bromance" that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to have at their first summit in April. Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties in the meeting at his Florida residence and subsequently called Xi a "good man". [nL4N1I05T1]

While China said it was "outraged" at the arms sales for Taiwan, and upset with the North Korea-related sanctions, it did not make specific threats of retaliation. In 2010, Beijing threatened to sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to Taiwan after Washington announced a much bigger $6.4 billion arms package.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he hoped the United States can correct its mistakes and get ties back on track "so as to avoid cooperation in important areas being impacted". He did not elaborate.

Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, cautioned against interpreting recent events as indicating a shift in China-U.S. relations, saying it was still too early to tell.

"We had a good first summit and a good beginning but the relationship in the long run is characterized by not just cooperation but also conflict," Jia said.

"Arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Sea and East China Sea, and other problems in the relationship will appear. It's a question of how much the two countries will be able to manage these conflicts, whether they can manage them better than the previous administration."

Trump and Xi are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit in the Germany city of Hamburg.

China has long been cautious about Trump, China-based diplomatic sources say, believing he is unpredictable and needs to be handled with care.

"How does the Chinese government view Trump? We're still discovering who he is. He often does things we can't predict. We're not clever enough to predict what he'll do," said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai's elite Fudan University.

Trump upset China even before taking office, taking a call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning decades of precedent of no high-level official contacts between the United States and an island China considers to be a wayward province.

While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law.

"The U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan is routine," said Shen. "They're selling much less than before, and that's much better. So I don't think there's anything too terrible about that."

Still, the risks around Taiwan are profound.

China's Defense Ministry, responding to the U.S. weapons sales, said Taiwan was the "most important, most sensitive core issue" between the United States and China.

The arms sale came hot on the heels of a U.S. Senate committee approving a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since Washington ditched Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1979.

While China's Defense Ministry registered its opposition to the bill on Thursday, spokesman Wu Qian pointed out that as long as they respect each other's core concerns, the Chinese and U.S. militaries can be an "engine of stability" for the two countries.

Shi Yinhong, who heads the Center for American Studies at Beijing's Renmin University and has advised the government on diplomacy, said it was important people are realistic about the challenges China and the United States face.

"Perhaps people appraised too highly the Xi-Trump meeting. Although the atmosphere was very good, there were still real problems there," Shi said, referring to the Florida summit.

"Maybe you can say that China-U.S. relations have gone back to being normal," Shi added. "Trump has no patience, and nobody can be surprised that he's pushed certain issues to the fore."</s>(CNN) In a flurry of announcements likely to antagonize Beijing, US President Donald Trump's administration has seemingly thrown its China policy into reverse, cooling relations between the two super powers.

In less than one week, the US has finalized a $1.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, labeled China one of the world's worst human traffickers and imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank for doing business with North Korea.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had previously enjoyed an unusually cordial relationship since their first February meeting in Florida, with the US president describing Xi as a "terrific person" with whom he had a "very good relationship."

In exchange for Xi's agreement to help restrain North Korea, the Trump administration loosened or withdrew US pressure in other areas, including the South China Sea and Trump's previous campaign pledge to label China a currency manipulator.

But on June 21, Trump sent a tweet saying Chinese efforts to restrain North Korea had "not worked out," while adding he greatly appreciated that they had "tried."

"It's a very firm indication that the honeymoon after the Mar-a-Lago summit is over and that tweet in particular ... that was a clear signal that there was going to be a change and cooling in temperature of China and US ties," Euan Graham, International Security Program director at Sydney's Lowy Institute, told CNN.

The agreement, which was always likely to have gone ahead, appeared to have been at least temporarily shelved, as Trump looked to build closer ties with China. It's sudden reemergence will likely have angered Beijing, which considers Taiwan a rogue province and part of mainland China.

"From the beginning, President Trump has tied all these US-China issues together expecting cooperation from China on North Korea for cooperation from the US on these other issues," said Anthony Ruggiero, a North Korea expert and senior fellow at the Defense for Democracy.

Ruggiero said the decision to sanction Dandong was "long overdue," adding pressure could be put on China through their need for US currency.

"China is now in a position where it must defend a bank the US said is a money laundering concern. The Chinese leadership will wonder if the Trump administration will sanction a medium-sized Chinese bank next," he said.''

The decision to step up pressure on China comes as several prominent Trump administration officials have warned further action was needed against North Korea's nuclear missile program.

On Wednesday, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley labeled estimates that North Korea was "three to five years from developing a long-range nuclear weapon capable of reaching the US" as "optimistic."

"What we have to do is prepare all options because the President has made clear to us that he will not accept a nuclear power in North Korea, and a threat that can target the United States and target the American population," McMaster told a Washington think tank.

"It is significant that (the sanctions) occurred on the afternoon of Moon's visit," Ruggiero told CNN. "This becomes a line in the sand that leaves the idea for engagement with North Korea open to discussion, but when it comes to pressure, shows the US will do as much as it can."

Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said in a statement Friday morning they were "sincerely grateful" for the US decision to go ahead with the arms deal.

"The arms sale was proposed by our country last year. The package includes eight types of equipment and system, which will boost our combat capabilities in air and sea," the statement said.

China's ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai furiously denounced the sale in Chinese state media People's Daily, saying it violated the agreed upon "one China" policy.

"China has made strong protests to the US and will reserve the right to take further measures," state media quoted him as saying.

Zhang Baohui, professor of political science at Lingnan University, said until this week many high-profile Taiwanese had believed the US was moving away from them.

"(This arms deal) didn't go through for a while and some people suspected it was due to Trump's so-called reliance on China to resolve the North Korea issue ... so I think this arms sale could boost confidence (in US)," he said.

Zhang said this arms package, originally begun under former President Obama, was smaller than the last US arms deal with Taiwan, while Graham told CNN the actual contents of the newly approved Taiwanese arms deal were not especially provocative.

"They're not talking about major front line aircraft or major breakthroughs in technology, I think it's consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and the provision of defense capabilities under that," Graham said.

"I don't see that alone as a provocation towards China, rather I think if we connect up these other areas, including sanctions on Chinese entities, that's the thing to watch."</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to sell Taiwan $1.42 billion in arms, the first such sale under the administration of Donald Trump and a move sure to anger China, whose help the president has been seeking to rein in North Korea.

FILE PHOTO - A demonstrator holds flags of Taiwan and the United States in support of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during an stop-over after her visit to Latin America in Burlingame, California, U.S., January 14, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters the administration had told Congress of the seven proposed sales on Thursday.

“It’s now valued about $1.42 billion,” she said.

The State Department said the package included technical support for early warning radar, high speed anti-radiation missiles, torpedoes and missile components.

Nauert said the sales showed U.S. “support for Taiwan’s ability to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability,” but there was no change to the United States’ long-standing “one China” policy, which recognizes Beijing and not Taipei.

The United States is the sole arms supplier to Taiwan, which China deems its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

Beijing has given Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen the cold shoulder since she took power last year because she leads an independence-leaning ruling party and refuses to recognize the “one China” policy.

On Friday, Tsai’s office said that her government will continue “to seek constructive dialogue with Beijing, and promote positive developments in cross-strait relations.”

“(The arms sale) increases Taiwan’s confidence and ability to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai’s office tweeted.

Asked about the sale at an event on Thursday evening in Washington, China’s Ambassador Cui Tiankai said the United States was “incorrigible” when it comes to Taiwan, the official party paper the People’s Daily reported on its website.

“But we should still continue to instruct (them) and continue advancing on the right track of China-U.S. relations because this is what truly fits with for both countries’ long term interests,” the paper quoted Cui as saying.

The sale, which requires congressional approval, would be the first to Taiwan under Trump and the first since a $1.83 billion sale that former President Barack Obama announced in December 2015, to China’s dismay.

The previous package included two navy frigates in addition to anti-tank missiles and amphibious attack vehicles.

A State Department official said the latest package primarily represented “upgrades to existing defense capabilities aimed at converting current legacy systems from analog to digital.”

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the items would enhance air and sea combat capability and early warning defenses. It said Taiwan and the United States would continue to consolidate their security partnership to contribute to long-term stability in the region.

STRONG SUPPORT

In a strong sign of congressional support, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee welcomed what he called the “long-overdue” arms sale.

“Sales of defensive weapons, based on Taiwan’s needs, are a key provision of our commitments as laid out by the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances,” said Rep. Ed Royce, referring to legislation and informal guidelines that steer U.S. relations with Taiwan.

U.S. officials said in March the administration was crafting a big arms sale to Taiwan, but such talk died down as Trump sought to persuade Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, an increasing threat to the United States.

Earlier on Thursday, China responded angrily and said it had protested to Washington after a U.S. Senate committee approved a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since the United States adopted a one-China policy in 1979.

The bill also directs the Pentagon to help Taiwan develop an indigenous undersea warfare program and recommends strengthened strategic cooperation with Taipei.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the bill was in violation of the principles of U.S.-China relations and called on Washington to halt military drills with and arms sales to Taiwan “to avoid further impairing broadly cooperative China-U.S. relations.”

U.S. officials told Reuters this week that Trump - who alarmed Beijing after assuming office by breaking with decades of precedent and talking to Taiwan’s president - was becoming increasingly frustrated with China over its inaction on North Korea and trade.

According to the officials, Trump is now considering trade actions against Beijing, despite having heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping after an April summit.

Also on Thursday, Washington stepped up pressure on Beijing by imposing sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and accusing a Chinese bank of laundering money for Pyongyang.

Trump plans to meet Xi again on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany next week, U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters</s>The US announcement of a $1.42bn arms sale to Taiwan is a not-so-subtle warning shot across the bows of China’s president, Xi Jinping, who is due to meet Donald Trump for potentially tense bilateral talks at next week’s G20 summit in Hamburg. But Trump’s pre-emptive strike could backfire badly.

Official confirmation of the arms sale, under consideration since January, coincided with Xi’s officiation at an ostentatious military parade in Hong Kong on Friday, celebrating China’s reunification with what until 1997 Beijing regarded as a “renegade province” similar to Taiwan.

In a series of parallel, and provocative, moves, a Republican-controlled Senate committee also provisionally approved visits to Taiwan by the Japan-based US Seventh Fleet for the first time since 1979, when Washington recognised the People’s Republic of China and adopted a “one China” policy.

The decision, if implemented, could in effect provide a naval base and facilities for US aircraft carriers and destroyers just off the coast of the Chinese mainland. That’s a bit like the People’s Liberation Army building gun emplacements on Long Island.

The announcement was swiftly applauded in Taiwan, where many view China’s new regional assertiveness as a threat. “The ministry welcomes any form of partnership that would enhance Taiwan’s national defence capabilities and bring stability to the region,” the defence ministry said.

The Senate bill also directs the Pentagon to help Taiwan develop an undersea warfare programme and recommends strengthened strategic cooperation with Taipei.

Coincidentally or not, the US and Australia began their biggest ever joint military exercises on Thursday – a seaborne show of force purposefully directed at China. The battleship exercises, involving 33,000 personnel, reflect heightened tensions over what Washington views as Chinese military expansionism in the South China Sea.

China has expressed “outrage” over the Taiwan arms package. The foreign ministry demanded a halt to the sale and to military drills “to avoid further impairing broadly cooperative China-US relations”. But Beijing’s overall response will depend on the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting in Hamburg.

When he and Xi first met in April, Trump hailed the start of a new era. “We have great chemistry together,” he declared, and dropped earlier threats to impose punitive trade tariffs and disown the one-China policy.

It transpired his main aim was to persuade Xi to take a tougher line on North Korea. He claimed to have succeeded. But the White House has been briefing in recent days that Trump is disappointed and frustrated at tepid Chinese cooperation on the Pyonyang regime.

So now US action on trade is back on the table. Not coincidentally again, the administration announced further sanctions relating to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes on Thursday, targeting a Chinese bank and a shipping company.

It also pointedly criticised China’s human rights and democracy record in Hong Kong. The US moves have sparked speculation about a new slump in bilateral relations but this is probably premature. None of the latest US actions is irreversible. Trump is crudely reminding Xi of possible consequences if their talks do not produce results. But China has a history of reacting badly to bullying and Trump’s tactics could blow up in his face.

In Taiwan, where many in the independence-minded, ruling Democratic Progressive party feel serially bullied by Beijing, indications of closer American engagement could raise false hopes and dangerously exacerbate strains with the mainland. China’s recent success in inducing Panama to break off diplomatic ties with Taipei, the latest example of Beijing’s attempts to isolate the island, was much resented.

Opinion polls suggest increasing numbers of younger Taiwanese, impatient with Chinese pressure to alter the status quo, are moving in the opposite direction to that which China wants – towards greater separation.

A recent Taiwan Brain Trust thinktank survey found that nearly 90% support “normalisation” of Taiwan’s political status internationally, prospectively meaning worldwide recognition of Taiwan as an independent, sovereign nation.

As in Hong Kong, Taiwanese citizens increasingly feel different from China; 75% said Taiwan and China are separate nations. Only 11% backed unification. And when they see Xi and his troops strutting around Victoria Harbour, who can blame them?</s>China reacted relatively calmly on Friday after a series of diplomatic broadsides by the United States, expressing anger over new arms sales by Washington to Taiwan but hoping ties could soon be brought back on track.

BEIJING: China reacted relatively calmly on Friday after a series of diplomatic broadsides by the United States, expressing anger over new arms sales by Washington to Taiwan but hoping ties could soon be brought back on track.

U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inability to restrain North Korea's arms and missile programmes.

This week, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea's weapons programmes, announced a US$1.4 billion arms sale for Taiwan, and said it would like sick Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to be treated "elsewhere".

It has also placed China on its global list of the worst offenders in human trafficking and forced labour and senior U.S. officials have told Reuters that Washington is considering trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on steel imports.

Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the United States, India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at China.

It's a long way from the "bromance" that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to have at their first summit in April. Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties in the meeting at his Florida residence and subsequently called Xi a "good man".

While China said it was "outraged" at the arms sales for Taiwan, and upset with the North Korea-related sanctions, it did not make specific threats of retaliation. In 2010, Beijing threatened to sanction U.S. firms that sell weapons to Taiwan after Washington announced a much bigger US$6.4 billion arms package.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he hoped the United States can correct its mistakes and get ties back on track "so as to avoid cooperation in important areas being impacted". He did not elaborate.

Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University and who has advised the government on foreign policy, cautioned against interpreting recent events as indicating a shift in China-U.S. relations, saying it was still too early to tell.

"We had a good first summit and a good beginning but the relationship in the long run is characterised by not just cooperation but also conflict," Jia said.

"Arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Sea and East China Sea, and other problems in the relationship will appear. It's a question of how much the two countries will be able to manage these conflicts, whether they can manage them better than the previous administration."

Trump and Xi are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit in the Germany city of Hamburg.

China has long been cautious about Trump, China-based diplomatic sources say, believing he is unpredictable and needs to be handled with care.

"How does the Chinese government view Trump? We're still discovering who he is. He often does things we can't predict. We're not clever enough to predict what he'll do," said Shen Dingli, a professor at Shanghai's elite Fudan University.

Trump upset China even before taking office, taking a call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, overturning decades of precedent of no high-level official contacts between the United States and an island China considers to be a wayward province.

While China has worked hard to get Trump to understand the importance of Taiwan to the China-U.S. relationship, it has never seriously expected Washington to stop selling it weapons, provision for which is explicitly made in U.S. law.

"The U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan is routine," said Shen. "They're selling much less than before, and that's much better. So I don't think there's anything too terrible about that."

Still, the risks around Taiwan are profound.

China's Defence Ministry, responding to the U.S. weapons sales, said Taiwan was the "most important, most sensitive core issue" between the United States and China.

The arms sale came hot on the heels of a U.S. Senate committee approving a bill calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the U.S. Navy for the first time since Washington ditched Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1979.

While China's Defence Ministry registered its opposition to the bill on Thursday, spokesman Wu Qian pointed out that as long as they respect each other's core concerns, the Chinese and U.S. militaries can be an "engine of stability" for the two countries.

Shi Yinhong, who heads the Centre for American Studies at Beijing's Renmin University and has advised the government on diplomacy, said it was important people are realistic about the challenges China and the United States face.

"Perhaps people appraised too highly the Xi-Trump meeting. Although the atmosphere was very good, there were still real problems there," Shi said, referring to the Florida summit.

"Maybe you can say that China-U.S. relations have gone back to being normal," Shi added. "Trump has no patience, and nobody can be surprised that he's pushed certain issues to the fore."
The United States plans to sell Taiwan $1.42 billion in arms, the first such sale under the administration of Donald Trump.