The US is pausing a $14bn (£10.4bn) arms sale to Taiwan to ensure it has enough weapons for the Iran war, acting Navy secretary Hung Cao has said.
Cao confirmed this at a Senate hearing, days after President Donald Trump appeared non-committal about the sale following his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
A spokesperson for Taiwan’s presidential office told reporters on Friday that they had not received any information about “US adjustments to the arms sale”.
The sale of US arms to Taiwan has long irked Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.
“Right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury – which we have plenty,” Cao said at the hearing on Thursday, using the code name for the US-Israel joint military operation in Iran.
“We’re just making sure we have everything, but then the foreign military sales will continue when the administration deems necessary.”
When asked what he had heard from the Taiwanese about a pause in the weapons sale, Cao said he had “not spoken to the Taiwanese”.
The $14bn package has been waiting for Trump’s approval for months. It includes air defence missiles, such as Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3, and surface-to-air missile systems, according to a Reuters report in March.
Trump has yet to confirm that he would give final approval to the package, telling Fox News last week that it was “a very good negotiating chip” with China.
He also told reporters he would “make a determination over the next fairly short period” on the weapons sale to Taiwan.
Those comments came fresh off a presidential summit in Beijing, where Xi had told Trump that Taiwan was the most important issue between the US and China.
Trump later told reporters that he had discussed US arms sales to Taiwan “in great detail” with Xi – even though according to a 1982 US assurance to Taiwan, the US had pledged not to consult Beijing on the matter.
Trump has also said he would talk directly to Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te about the sale, which would be a sharp departure from diplomatic tradition and is likely to anger Beijing.
US and Taiwanese leaders have not spoken directly for decades, although Trump spoke to Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen when Trump was president-elect.
Beijing had lodged vehement opposition last December when the US approved a $11bn (£8.2bn) arms sale to Taiwan – one of the largest such packages ever. China’s foreign ministry said at the time it would “accelerate the push towards a dangerous and violent situation across the Taiwan Strait”.
Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te has emphasised that US arms sales were a “key factor in maintaining regional peace and stability”.
