A view of the Taiwan Straits is seen from Xiamen port, in East China's Fujian Province. Photo:IC

The US administration has delayed announcing a package of arms sales to the island of Taiwan worth billions of dollars ahead of US President Donald Trump's reported trip to China in early April, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing US officials, and confirmed previous media reports that the arms sale was in limbo.

The reported move is a slap in the face of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities and sends a clear signal that Taiwan is a tradable chess piece for the US, experts said on Saturday, adding that simply delaying the arms sales would not be enough given the seriousness of the issue.

The weapons sale, which includes air-defense missiles, is in an advanced stage, and it has a total value of about $13 billion, compared with the $11 billion sale that the Trump administration announced in December. However, US administration officials have told some involved in the approval of the sale that the White House ordered agencies not to move forward to ensure Trump's successful trip, according to the New York Times' report. 

The New York Times article quickly drew attention in Taiwan. Kuomintang legislator Wang Hung-wei was quoted by Taiwan's United Daily News as saying that the US move confirms concerns that Taiwan will become a bargaining chip.

Another pro-independence Taiwan media outlet cited another Kuomintang legislator, Jonathan Lin, who pointed at accusing finger at the DPP authorities.

 "The DPP has long claimed that relations with the US are the 'best in history', yet it still cannot effectively persuade the US to proceed with the relevant arms sales arrangements according to the original schedule," he said.

China Times, citing US-based Taiwan scholar Dennis Weng, as saying that one of the most important thing for the US president is whether the US could maximize its interests. "For Taiwan, a more real challenge lies ahead," Weng was quoted as saying. 

In a Facebook post, a Taiwan netizen questioned the so-called friendly relations between the US and Taiwan region and "US support for Taiwan." "Should we face up to reality and give up the 'ostrich' approach to self-hypnosis?" asked the netizen.

Zhang Hua, a research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the delayed US arms sales demonstrate that Taiwan is not as important to the US as propagated by some American conservative forces and the DPP authorities. 

Previously, speculation about delays in US arms sales to Taiwan had already triggered concerns on the island about being abandoned by the US. The fact that the US administration has halted the package at an advanced stage of the process, after informal approval from Congress, has not been previously reported, the New York Times claimed.

Tong Liqun, a research fellow at the Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Saturday that the contrast between the US' attitude toward Taiwan and Taiwan's attitude toward the US has exacerbated "America skepticism" on the island. 

Tong noted that the US decision to delay the arms sales shows that the US has realized that the Taiwan question remains a core and sensitive issue in China-US relations; nonetheless, given that last December the Trump administration announced the largest ever US weapons package for the island, the "delay" move is far from enough.

"It would be wrong if the US administration thinks that a temporary 'delay' could work out. If the US administration truly acknowledges the sensitivity of arms sales to Taiwan region and its detrimental impact on China-US relations, it should completely cancel arms sales to Taiwan," said Tong.

Chinese officials have consistently opposed the US' arms sales to the island. In December, responding to a question about the announcement of the US' large-scale arms sales to Taiwan island, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that the US' arms sales to Taiwan region grossly interfere in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, disrupt peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, and send a seriously wrong message to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and others. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has immediately lodged serious protests with the US side, Guo said.