Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
The US has approved an $11.1bn arms sale to Taiwan, the largest such package of its kind as Taipei comes under increasing pressure to prepare itself against the threat from China.
The package, announced by the US state department on Wednesday, will include Himars rocket launchers, Howitzer artillery, drones, Javelin anti-tank missiles and other items.
The sale threatens to undo a thaw in US-China relations, coming less than two months after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in South Korea and agreed a truce in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
But frictions between China and Taiwan have continued to simmer, particularly on the security front. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and has threatened to take control if it militarily if Taipei resists its pressure indefinitely.
The People’s Liberation Army has intensified its exercises around Taiwan in recent years, including regular incursions by its air force into Taiwan’s self-declared buffer zone.
The US has for decades maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards Taiwan in terms of the extent to which it would defend it against an attack. US intelligence and military officials have said they believe Xi has ordered the PLA to be prepared for an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.
Former president Joe Biden had repeatedly said that the US would come to Taiwan’s defence in the event of a Chinese invasion, but Trump has been more equivocal, and has pushed Taiwan to spend more on defence and improve combat readiness.
Last month, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te pledged to spend NT$1.25tn (US$40bn) on weapons over the next eight years, the largest special defence budget in more than 30 years. Taipei said part of the budget would go towards co-developing defence equipment and systems with the US.
Lai has pledged to strengthen Taiwan’s defence capabilities to deter any threat from China.
This year Taiwan held its first realistic and comprehensive civil defence drill simulating wartime scenarios in recent decades. Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang live-fire exercises this year also included more urban defence scenarios, as well as Javelin missiles and, for the first time, US-supplied Himars.
This week, Taiwan’s defence ministry sought to tighten rules on conscription to narrow the list of exemptions after a series of scandals involving celebrities who falsified medical records to evade year-long military service.
Taiwan’s presidential office spokesperson Karen Kuo said the arms sales “demonstrated the close relationship” between Taiwan and the US. She said Taiwan would continue to strengthen its defence both in the military and society.
“This bundle of notifications . . . is a response to the threat from China and speaks to the demand from Mr Trump that partners and allies do more to secure their own defence,” said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council.
He added: “We continue to see the prioritisation of platforms and munitions that address a D-Day style attack on the island.”
Source link
