State media have accused US President George W. Bush of playing sordid games and picking up where his father left off with the latest arms sale to Taiwan.
It also said the US arms package - the biggest in nearly a decade - would raise tensions across the Taiwan Strait and help the island pursue independence.
'You can see how sordid are the games played by this chip off the old block,' the official Liberation Daily said in a commentary.
The Shanghai newspaper claimed the sales were an extension of the 1992 decision by then-president George Bush to sell 150 F-16 fighter jets to the island.
The elder Bush made that commitment in the heat of a presidential race which he ultimately lost to Bill Clinton.
The latest package of arms that could be sold to Taiwan for as much as US$4 billion (HK$31.1 billion) include Kidd-class destroyers and diesel-electric submarines, but do not include the top-of-the-line Aegis combat radar system with the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers sought by Taipei.
'The Taiwanese are relying on American arms to pursue independence,' the Liberation Daily commentary said.