In a move sure to aggravate the already tense ties between Washington and Beijing, the Obama administration announced Jan. 29 plans to sell $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its own.

The notification to Congress, posted on a Pentagon Web site, includes Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles, mine hunter ships and information technology.

Taiwan is the most sensitive matter in U.S.-China relations, with the potential to plunge into conflict two powers increasingly linked by security and economic issues. The United States is Taiwan's most important ally and its largest arms supplier.

The United States, which told China of the sale only hours before the announcement, acknowledged that Beijing may retaliate by cutting off military talks with Washington, which happened after the Bush administration announced a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan in 2008.

The United States is "obstinately making the wrong decision," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Jan. 30 after Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei warned Ambassador Jon Huntsman the sale would "cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see."

"We strongly request that the U.S. side correct the wrong action, so as to avoid further damaging Chinese-U.S. relations," said Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington. "The Taiwan question and the arms sale issue bear on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, so this is a very serious problem."