Getting Back to Normal: The U.S.-Taiwan Arms Sale Seven Months Later

Just seven months after the arms sale Beijing said "contaminated the sound atmosphere for [US-China] military relations," things are getting back to normal.

The October announcement of the $6.5 billion arms package to be sold to Taiwan by the United States initially yielded a rift with China.

Beijing immediately canceled all military exchanges with the United States and said the U.S. had broken an agreement set forth in the three joint communiqués.

It also warned of the negative effect it would have on warming Taiwan-China dialogue and that the sale of missile defense systems, attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, anti-ship missiles and command systems could disrupt the "hard-won advances” that had been achieved in cross-strait relations.

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