Washington raises ire with missiles sale

Firm opposition over arms to equip fighter jets slated for China's Taiwan

China has lodged solemn representations over the latest United States arms sales to China's Taiwan, China's Defense Ministry said on Friday afternoon, expressing "firm opposition and strong dissatisfaction".

Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, the spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, demanded that the US stop arms sales to Taiwan and military contacts with the island, stop meddling in the Taiwan question and stop escalating tensions across the Taiwan Straits.

The US State Department has approved a $619 million sale of hundreds of missiles to equip new US-made F-16 fighter jets that the island is expecting to receive by the middle of this decade.