The government yesterday thanked the US for approving the possible sale of a US$620 million missile repair and recertification package to Taiwan.
The US Department of State has approved the sale of a package to recertify Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington for an estimated US$620 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release on Thursday.
The agency has delivered the required certification to the US Congress, notifying it of the possible sale, it added.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The TECRO had requested to buy an upgrade package that would support an operational life of 30 years for its PAC-3 missiles, including air transportation services for missile processing, ground support equipment, and US government and contractor technical and logistical support, it said.
The proposed sale is in line with US law and policy, and serves its “national, economic and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,” it said.
“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” the agency said.
Lockheed Martin would be the primary contractor, it added.
The proposed sale, which is expected to take effect in one month, would be the seventh arms sale to Taiwan by US President Donald Trump’s administration, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement yesterday.
The US, in line with its Taiwan Relations Act and “six assurances,” continues to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons, and the missile refurbishment package would boost Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, it said, thanking the US for the decision.
As President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) mentioned in her second inaugural speech, Taiwan has over the past four years worked to reform its national defense sector, as well as participate on the global stage, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
These efforts — which are to continue over the next four years — seek to maintain cross-strait peace and stability, and to allow Taiwan to become more involved in fostering peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, it said, adding that bilateral security partnerships would only deepen.
“Taiwan will continue to increase investment, and research and development in the defense sector in a bid to add to long-term peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
The nation’s oldest PAC-3 ground systems and missiles, which were purchased from the US nearly 10 years ago, need maintenance, Taiwan Security Analysis Center director Mei Fu-hsing (梅復興) wrote on Facebook yesterday.
The refurbishment would cover 444 PAC-3 systems and missiles bought over the years, Mei said.
Just like the previous arms package sale announced on May 20, the new proposal shows a normalization of arms sales between the US and Taiwan, he added.
Taiwan, like any other country, can tender arms purchase proposals to the US at any time, and the US reviews them upon request, as per legal procedure, instead of holding the proposals and then “clearing the warehouse” all at once, he said.
That was one of the Taiwan-friendly policies instituted by Randall Schriver during his tenure as US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, Mei added.
Additional reporting by CNA
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
TRADE MISSION: After Fijian elections in December last year, pro-democratic parties formed a coalition and overruled a name change imposed by the former government The Taipei Trade Office in Fiji has been restored to its former name, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Republic of Fiji, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Fiji on Friday last week issued a note verbale to the office saying that the name change was retroactively effective from March 15, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news conference in Taipei. The mission’s diplomatic privileges have been reinstated as stipulated in Fiji’s Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act, which was enacted in 1971, Chow said. Taiwan set up a trade
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday departed for a 12-day trip to China as scheduled, despite calls for him to cancel the trip after Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan as an apparent result of China’s dollar diplomacy. “This is my first trip to China. I was 37 when I began handling cross-strait affairs in the government. Now I am 73 and have waited 36 years for the visit. It is indeed a bit too long, but I am glad I can go,” Ma of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “Aside from paying respects to
‘INDISPENSABLE ROLE’: Despite stopovers in the US, Tsai said the aim of her trip is to ‘demonstrate determination to deepen exchanges’ with the allies of the nation President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday afternoon left Taiwan on a 10-day trip to Central America that includes stopovers in New York and Los Angeles. “Through this visit, I will express my gratitude to diplomatic partners for their support of Taiwan,” Tsai said at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport shortly before boarding the plane. The trip to Guatemala and Belize — her first overseas journey since the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping around the world in early 2020 — aims to “demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to deepen exchanges” with its Central American allies, she said. Tsai said that she and her delegation would also explore the possibility
RSS