This is the largest US arms sale to Taiwan since Joe Biden took office in January 2021. The United States announced a $1.1 billion arms sale to the island territory on Friday.
This announcement comes a month after the visit to Taiwan of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which had provoked the fury of Beijing. China then launched the most important military maneuvers in its history around the island.
The US government approved the sale to Taipei for $355 million of 60 Harpoon missiles capable of sinking warships, 100 Sidewinder short-range missiles ($85.6 million), capable of intercepting missiles or drones, and a contract for maintenance for Taiwan’s radar system valued at $665 million, the State Department said in a statement.
These transactions “serve the economic and national security interests of the United States by supporting (Taiwan’s) efforts to modernize its armed forces,” said US diplomacy through a spokesman.
This new sale comes the day after Taiwanese forces shot down an unidentified commercial drone. A sudden series of raids caused turmoil on the island after Beijing’s earlier show of force, which it said fired ballistic missiles at the capital Taipei.
Beijing immediately demanded that Washington renounce these transactions, declaring itself “firmly against”, in the voice of the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.
“Legitimate and Necessary Countermeasures”
China calls on the US to “immediately revoke” arms sales to Taiwan, “so that it does not further affect relations with the US, as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” it added. the spokesman in a press release.
Since 2010, the United States has reported more than $35 billion in arms sales to Taiwan to Congress, said a spokesman for the State Department, which approved the deals. To materialize, these sales must receive congressional approval, which is almost certain, as military support for Taiwan enjoys broad support among elected officials on both sides.
These arms sales are “essential to the security of Taiwan and we will continue to work with the defense industry to support this goal,” the State Department spokesman added.
“The United States continues to support a peaceful resolution of the matter, in accordance with the wishes and in the interest of the Taiwanese people.”
Strengthen the island’s early warning capabilities
On the Taipei side, “this arms sale will not only help our soldiers fight coercion in the gray area, but also strengthen the island’s early warning capabilities against long-range ballistic missiles,” said Chang Tun- Han, spokesman for the Taiwanese. presidency, in a statement of thanks.
Before the controversial visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, number three in the United States and the highest-ranking American official to visit the island in decades, Joe Biden’s entourage had quietly argued to China that it did not represent a policy of no administration, with Congress being a separate body. branch of government
The green light for arms sales, on the other hand, clearly comes from the Biden administration, although it is in line with the policy pursued since 1979, when Washington recognized Beijing while agreeing to maintain Taiwan’s self-defense capability.
During a trip to Tokyo in May, Joe Biden appeared to break with decades of US policy by saying the US would directly defend Taiwan if attacked, but his advisers later retracted his comments to keep the concept deliberately blurring “ambiguity”. strategic”.
China regards Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, as one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949). In seven decades, the communist army has never been able to conquer the island, which has remained under the control of the ROC, the regime that once ruled mainland China and now rules only Taiwan.
Source: BFM TV
