Trump administration approves $1.42bn Taiwan arms sale

The Trump administration notified Congress on Thursday that it approved sales of $1.42 billion in weapons to Taiwan, the first such proposed transfer since President Donald Trump took office, The Wall Street Journal reports. The sales include radar, missiles and torpedoes, and “primarily represent upgrades to existing defense capabilities aimed at converting current legacy systems from analog to digital,” a US official said. The US is legally obligated under congressional action to sell Taiwan defensive weapons, and did so as recently as 2015 under the Obama administration. But China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, is angered whenever such sales are announced. Officials with the Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this year, Trump angered Beijing when he suggested he would review the US’s longstanding “One China” policy.