The nation is to continue buying arms from the US, boosting employment in at least six US states and narrowing the bilateral trade gap, the Cabinet told the US.
Taiwan’s military purchases “have boosted the local economy of and employment in states such as Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” the Cabinet said as part of the public comment process for a 90-day trade review being conducted by the US.
Companies like Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Co, Boeing Co, Sikorsky and BAE Systems PLC have benefited from Taiwan’s purchases of missile defense systems, attack helicopters, fighter jets and other amphibious assault vehicles, it said.
Taiwan said that despite its efforts to build up an indigenous defense, “this will not affect our military procurement from the US” and it would continue to procure goods, including military hardware.
The 40-page English-language response released by the Cabinet late on Thursday stated that US-Taiwan ties were a “top priority” and that the nation and is “open to any possible proposals that will strengthen US-Taiwan trade relations on a fair and mutually-beneficial basis.”
It provided rare detail on the effect of the nation’s military purchases on the US and follows US President Donald Trump’s call for allies to pay their fair share of defense costs, reduce trade gaps and boost US jobs.
From 2008 to 2015, Taiwan was the seventh-largest source of procurement for US military-related goods and on average, military sales have amounted to US$2 billion annually, the Cabinet said.
It said that trade data accounting for arms sales, as well as the after-sales services and personnel training that come with it, would further close the overall trade gap between the two nations.
In late March, Trump ordered the US Department of Commerce and trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive US trade deficits.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS