The US Department of State is declining for the first time to address an annual industry conference on defense and security ties between the US and Taiwan, the event’s organizer said.

US arms sales to Taiwan are a major sore spot with China. Still, the State Department has sent one of its senior officials to speak at the event each year for the past nine years, US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said in an interview on Tuesday.

“It’s certainly a -disappoint-ment,” he said, although a senior Pentagon official will address the conference.