The U.S. has approved a $360 million arms sale to Taiwan, including missiles and drones, part of a broader effort to bolster Taiwan’s defense capabilities, as military pressure from China increases.
The arms package, which was authorized by the U.S. State Department, includes Switchblade 300 anti-personnel and anti-armor loitering munitions and related equipment for an estimated cost of $60.2 million. It also includes ALTIUS 600M-V drones and related equipment for an estimated $300 million.
The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with defense means, a requirement that reportedly frustrates Beijing. The law is a result of the Taiwan Relations Pact, which establishes the framework for the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan.
The Taiwanese defense ministry expressed thanks for the U.S. efforts to increase sales of arms to the island. In a statement, the ministry said: “In the face of the Chinese communists’ frequent military operations around Taiwan, these U.S.-agreed-to arms sales items will have the ability to detect and strike in real time and can respond quickly to enemy threats.”
Newsweek has approached the Taiwanese defense ministry for comment via email.
In a separate statement, the Pentagon‘s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that the sale will improve Taiwan’s security and “assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region.”
Newsweek has approached the Pentagon for comment via email.
This deal comes as Taiwan faces heightened military threats from China, which views the island as a breakaway province.
China claims that Taiwan is Chinese territory, though the Chinese Communist Party has not governed there. The Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a vow to unify his nation with the island, by force if necessary.
Newsweek has reached out to a representative of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. for comment.
Tensions between the two countries has increased since the election of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. He is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, which is skeptical of China. In his inauguration speech, he said that Taiwan is a “sovereign, independent nation.”
Ching-te faced China’s largest scale military exercises in two years in his first week in office.
In May of this year, the China People’s Liberation Army’s naval and artillery forces encircled the island in what officials described as a warning to “Taiwan independence separatist forces.”
China has made it clear that if Taiwan declared official independence, it will declare war.
In a press conference which marked his first month in office, Ching-te issued a statement saying: “The annexation of Taiwan is a national policy of the People’s Republic of China. In addition to military force, they have increasingly employed non-traditional methods of coercion to try force Taiwan into submission.”
He continued that, “Taiwan will not bow to the pressure. The people of Taiwan will resolutely defend national sovereignty and uphold the democratic and free constitutional way of life.”
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