US plans sale of ammunition, parts to Taiwan
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Taiwan special force troops enter a container during a coast guard drill in Kaohsiung on June 10.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – The United States on Thursday said it planned to sell US$440 million (S$597 million) worth of ammunition and parts to Taiwan, its latest effort to boost the self-ruling island’s defence.
The sale is comparatively small in scale and does not expand the range of US weaponry to Taiwan, but comes as the US and China move delicately to stabilise their turbulent relationship.
In a notification to Congress, the State Department said it would sell US$332.2 million in 30mm ammunition and related equipment to Taiwan and US$108 million in spare and repair parts for wheeled vehicles and weapons.
The sales will help Taiwan “maintain a credible defensive capability” but “will not alter the basic military balance in the region”, it said.
The sale “will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region”, it said.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry on Friday welcomed the planned sale for “providing the need for enhancing our defence capacity as well as maintaining regional stability”, it said in a tweet.
Congress has the right to reject the sales but such a move is highly unlikely, with lawmakers pushing for the US to go further and directly provide weapons to Taiwan rather than approving its purchase requests.
In a decades-long policy, the US sells weapons to Taiwan to ensure its self-defence but only recognises Beijing.
China, which claims the self-governing democracy as its own territory and has not ruled out seizing it through force, detests any hint of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and other governments.
‘Stop endangering peace’
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning reiterated China’s “firm opposition” to Washington supplying weapons to the island.
“The United States should... stop creating new causes of military tension in the Taiwan Strait, and stop endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” she told reporters on Friday.
Earlier in June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a rare visit to Beijing
But the two sides voiced hope at keeping up communication to keep tensions from boiling over.
Twice in the past year, China has carried out huge military exercises in waters around Taiwan in response to gestures of support by top US lawmakers.
On Friday, Taipei said it detected five Chinese warships and 24 Chinese warplanes around the island, of which 11 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. AFP
