The US State Department approved the sale of spare and repair parts for F-16 fighter jets for about $80 million to Taiwan. This was announced on Wednesday by the Pentagon's Defense Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
The sale will help "enhance the recipient's security and help maintain political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region," the agency said in a statement.
Taiwan's defense ministry thanked the United States and said the sale would boost the air force's combat and defense needs. The sale will be finalized in July, the ministry added.
"With normalized harassment in the gray area, the Chinese Communist Party has tried to squeeze our naval and air space for training and response time, as well as limit our rights of self-defense," it said in a statement.
China has repeatedly demanded that the United States, Taiwan's most important arms supplier, stop the sale. Beijing claims the island as its own territory despite Taipei's strong objection.
China's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from "Reuters".
Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Ku told reporters in parliament on Thursday that Taiwan needs to strengthen its self-defense capabilities to be part of "effective deterrence" in the US strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.
"But on military cooperation between Taiwan and the US, there are many things we can only do, but not say,", he added.