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. 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". 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. 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. "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. 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. 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 United States plans to sell Taiwan $1.42 billion in arms, the first such sale under the administration of Donald Trump.