Taipei, Taiwan - The US has approved $330 million-worth of parts and components in its first military sale to Taiwan since President Donald Trump's return to office, the island's foreign ministry said Friday.

Washington is Taipei's biggest arms supplier and a key deterrent to a potential Chinese attack, but Trump's remarks on Taiwan have raised doubts about his willingness to defend the democratic island.

Beijing claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

"This marks the first time the new Trump administration has announced an arms sale to Taiwan," the foreign ministry said, after the US State Department approved the package.

Taiwan requested "non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and return support for F-16, C-130, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft," a statement posted by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

China's foreign ministry said it "firmly opposed" Washington's approval of the sale, which comes about two weeks after Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

Taiwan has its own defense industry, but the island's military would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China and remains heavily reliant on US weapons for self-defense.

Taiwan's defense ministry said the sale will help maintain "combat readiness" and "enhance defensive resilience" against China.

China deploys military aircraft and warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis, which analysts describe as "grey-zone" operations – coercive tactics that fall short of an act of war.

While the US is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan, Washington has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend the island from a Chinese attack.