The US has cleared a sale of advanced Patriot air defense missiles to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Wednesday.
The department announced the contract late in the evening, allowing Lockheed Martin Corp to sell an unspecified number of Patriots, the American Institute in Taiwan said.
In a statement posted on its Web site on Wednesday, the department said the contract involved “basic missile tooling upgrades.”
The hardware, some of the best in its class, could shoot down Chinese short-range and mid-range missiles, defense analysts say.
BROADER PACKAGE
The sale rounds out a broad US$6.5 billion package of arms approved under former US president George W. Bush in late 2008, said Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief with Defense News.
“This is the last piece that Taiwan has been waiting on,” Minnick said.
China on Tuesday urged the US to cancel any arms sales plans to avoid damaging relations with Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said the US should “cancel plans concerning arms sales to Taiwan and stop selling these weapons, to avoid damaging broader China-US relations.”
Meanwhile, Chinese Vice Admiral Yang Yi (楊毅) told the China News Service that though developing good ties between China and the US was important, some things could not be accepted.
“You can’t just be forebearing and conciliatory when it comes to the development of stable and healthy Sino-US relations, and especially when it comes to a question of principles, you should never blindly make concessions,” he said.
‘COUNTERMEASURES’
Some US companies that sell weapons to Taiwan also want to sell aircraft and other products to China, Yang, who is also a researcher at Chinese National Defense University’s Strategic Studies Institute, said, without naming any firms.
“Why don’t we take defensive countermeasures against them? Apart from just protesting to the US government and taking necessary steps, why don’t we put sanctions on these troublemakers?” he said.
The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but it remains Taiwan’s biggest ally and is obligated by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself.
“Taiwan’s defense ministry looks favorably at the US continuing to sell Taiwan weapons for its self-defense,” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS