WASHINGTON, DC — The US on Friday announced
a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, vowing to keep boosting the island’s
defenses as tensions soar with Beijing, which warned Washington of
“counter-measures”.
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The sale comes a
month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited the self-governing
democracy, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a
trial run for a future invasion.
The package — the largest for Taiwan approved under
President Joe Biden’s administration — includes $665 million for contractor
support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in
operation since 2013 that would warn Taiwan about an incoming attack.
Taiwan will also spend $355 million on 60 Harpoon
Block II missiles, which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches
an assault by water.
The deal also includes $85.6 million for more than
100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air
firepower.
Taiwanese Presidential Office spokesman Chang
Tun-han in a statement thanked the US for its continued support for the
island’s security and defense.
“This arms sale will not only help our soldiers
fight against grey zone coercion, it will also enhance the island’s early
warning capabilities against long range ballistic missiles,” he said.
The announcement of the sale comes one day after
Taiwanese forces shot down an unidentified commercial drone amid a sudden spate
of mysterious incursions that have unnerved the island following the earlier
show of force by Beijing, which said it fired ballistic missiles over the
capital Taipei.
China, calling Taiwan an “inalienable” part of its
territory, urged the US to “immediately revoke” the arms sales.
“It sends wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’
separatist forces and severely jeopardizes China-US relations and peace and
stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese
embassy in Washington.
“China will resolutely take legitimate and necessary
countermeasures in light of the development of the situation,” he added.
‘Essential’ for Taiwan
A spokesperson for the US
State Department, which approved the sale, said the package was “essential for
Taiwan’s security” and stressed that the US still recognized only Beijing and
not Taipei.
“We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic,
and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue
with Taiwan,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The sales “are routine cases to support Taiwan’s
continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible
defensive capability,” the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity in line
with protocol.
“The US will continue to support a peaceful
resolution of cross-Strait issues, consistent with the wishes and best
interests of the people on Taiwan.”
The sale needs the approval of the US Congress,
which is virtually assured as Taiwan enjoys strong support across party lines.
Ahead of the visit by Pelosi, who is second in line
to the White House, Biden officials quietly made the case to China that she did
not represent the administration’s policy, as Congress is a separate and equal
branch of government.
The weapons approval, by contrast, clearly comes
from the Biden administration, although it is consistent with sales since 1979
when the US switched recognition to Beijing but agreed to maintain Taiwan’s
capacity for self-defense.
Biden, on a trip to Tokyo in May, appeared to break
with decades of US policy by saying the US would defend Taiwan directly if it
was attacked although his aides later walked back his remarks, insisting that
US policy remained deliberately ambiguous.
China considers Taiwan a province awaiting
reunification, by force if necessary. China’s nationalists set up a rival
government in Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war on the mainland,
although the island has since blossomed into a vibrant democracy and major
technological hub.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised growing
questions on whether China may follow suit in Taiwan and whether the island is
equipped to defend itself.
In a July appearance, CIA chief Bill Burns said that
Chinese President Xi Jinping was still determined to assert control over Taiwan
but that Russia’s woes in Ukraine may have prompted Beijing to wait and make
sure it would have an overwhelming military advantage.
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