Taiwan and U.S. defense officials have agreed to the upgrading of the former's fleet of F-16A/B jet fighters during talks at the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Richmond, Virginia.

Taiwan was hoping for the upgrade deal worth $4.2 billion as part of the island's national defense policy, according to the country's Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Yang.

"The F-16A/B is a high-performance fighter jet with all sorts of combat equipment and functions and the fleet would be able to perform even better after an upgrade," Chinapost.com quoted Yang as saying.

Yang, who led the Taiwanese delegation to the annual bilateral military ties exchange meeting, said Taiwan will still pursue the acquisition of 66 more advanced F-16C/D fighters and F-35s.

China reacted to the F-16 upgrade deal on Monday by repeating its opposition to any arms sales to Taiwan, which it regard as part of its territory.

But China's Foreign Ministry did not issue a response to the latest Taiwan-U.S. military deal.

Previous arms sales to Taiwan elicited vocal protests from Beijing but a political analyst does not expect China to suspend military ties with the U.S. as it did last year, when Washington sold $6.4 billion worth of arms package to its Asian ally.

"If the U.S. does not sell the C/Ds but only the A/B upgrades, then that probably wouldn't lead to a suspension of military exchanges," the Wall Street Journal quoted Prof. Jia Qingguo, a associate dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, as saying.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese legislator expressed dissatisfaction to the F-16 upgrade deal. But Justin Chou, a member of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang Party, said the deal was the reality.