US sells to Taiwan; China to Pakistan.

Anybody forsee problems in the offing?*

JING (Reuters) — China threatened to impose sanctions on American arms contractors and cut cooperation with Washington unless it cancels a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, in an unprecedented move signaling Beijing’s growing global power.
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“I think the price the United States pays will be heavier than the U.S. may have anticipated,” said Liu Jiangyong, professor of international security at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

“The U.S. view that arms sales to Taiwan are just a momentary squall could be out-of-date,” he said. “Now longer-term cooperation could also be damaged.”

The Obama administration told the Congress on Friday of the proposed sales, which include Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot “Advanced Capability-3” anti-missile missiles and two refurbished Osprey-class mine-hunting ships.

And I thought we were trying to work with China on the Iran sanctions thing? Did we really need the money so bad right now, that selling weapons and picking a fight with China seemed to be in America's best interests?

Why rattle the cage? or, Why rattle the cage now, when the beast inside seems so strong comparable to our own country's finances?
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*Yes, they did:

(Dec.15) In the past week, Chinese officials and news organizations have expressed anger over reports that the Obama administration could notify Congress shortly of such arms sales. Notification is the final step in the process. American officials here say China could break off military-to-military contacts with the United States once notification is made. When the Pentagon announced in October 2008, under the Bush administration, that it was selling Taiwan $6.5 billion worth of weapons, China froze the military ties and did not resume the contacts until after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Beijing in February.

Let's hope the administration hasn't underplayed and underthought this one, like with Scott Brown's victory? Surprise sometimes swamps the best-intended plans...