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China accuses US of sending 'wrong signals' to Taiwan with drone deal

China accuses US of sending 'wrong signals' to Taiwan with drone deal

Tsai Ing-wen and Xi Jinping

China on Wednesday accused the United States of sending out ''wrong signals'' to theTaiwan military forces on the potential drone sale deal.

Wang Wenbin,spokesman of the ministry told a regular briefing in Beijing said ''China will take legitimate and necessary responses in light of the changing circumstances.''

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The USState Department cleared the potential sale of four sophisticated US-made aerial drones to Taiwan in a formal notification sent to Congress, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, the last step before finalising a weapons sale.

The $600 million deal would be the first such sale since USpolicy on the export of sophisticated and closely guardeddronetechnology was loosened by the Trump administration.

Beijing considers Taiwan a wayward province that it has vowed to bring under control, by force if necessary. Washington considers it an important democratic outpost and is required by law to provide it with the means to defend itself.

In Taipei, Taiwan's foreign ministry thanked the USgovernment for its "security assurance" and said the arms sales will further boost Taiwan's defence capacity.

The U.S. State Department's formal notification gives Congress 30 days to object to any sales, which is unlikely given broad bipartisan support for the defense of Taiwan.

The four MQ-9 SeaGuardiandrones, made by General Atomics Aeronautical System, Inc of San Diego, California, would come with associated ground stations, spares, and training. While thedrones are armable, they will be outfitted with surveillance equipment.

On October21, the State Department sent notifications to Congress for the first tranche of arms sales to Taiwan. They included truck-based rocket launchers made by Lockheed Martin Corp, Rocket System (HIMARS) Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) missiles and related equipment made by Boeing Co, and external sensor pods for F-16 jets.

On October26 the United States moved ahead with the proposed sale of 100 cruise missile stations and 400 land-based Harpoon anti-ship missiles made by Boeing Co.