China Summons U.S. Envoy Over Taiwan

A senior U.S. diplomat was summoned to China’s foreign ministry over Washington’s $1.83 billion sale of two warships to Taiwan, according to a ministry statement Wednesday. Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang met with Kaye Lee, the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires, to lodge a complaint over the first U.S.-Taiwan weapons sale in four year. The deal comes as tensions escalate over China’s construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea. According to the statement, China plans to sanction the companies involved in the deal, which includes two previously approved Navy frigates, U.S. Marine Corps amphibious vehicles, Javelin antitank missiles, and Stinger antiaircraft missiles.