U.S. Sells Taiwan Missiles, Other Weapons In $1.1-B Deal

The United States on Friday announced a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, vowing to keep boosting the island's defenses as tensions soar with Beijing.

Photo Insert: The principal contractor for the Harpoon missiles is Boeing Co. while Raytheon is the contractor for both the Sidewinders and the radar program.

The sale comes a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governing democracy, prompting China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future invasion, Shaun Tandon reported for Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The package includes $665 million for contractor support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in operation since 2013. Taiwan will also spend $355 million to buy 60 Harpoon Block II missiles which can track and sink incoming vessels.

The arms also include $85.6 million for more than 100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air firepower. Reporting for the Associated Press (AP), Matthew Lee said the US State Department justified the sale as it is necessary for Taiwan to “maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

It also urged Beijing ”to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan."

Laura Rosenberger, the White House's senior director for China and Taiwan, said weapons sales to Taiwan will continue as China “continues to increase pressure on Taiwan — including through heightened military air and maritime presence around Taiwan — and engages in attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, we’re providing Taiwan with what it needs to maintain its self-defense capabilities.”

Patricia Zengerle and Michael Martina also reported for Reuters that the principal contractor for the Harpoon missiles is Boeing Co. while Raytheon is the contractor for both the Sidewinders and the radar program.

Taipei says that as the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island, it has no right to claim it. Sun Yat Sen’s declaration of the territories of modern China in 1910 did not include Taiwan.

The only claim of China to Taiwan is the 1887 declaration that the island belongs to the empire but did not assert that claim by administering it, perhaps out of fear that indigenous headhunting groups would fight back.

In 1895, China ceded Taiwan to Japan after signing the Treaty of Shimoneseki. Japan mauled the Chinese navy in the Sino-Japanese war.

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement the possible arms sale "severely jeopardizes China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. China will resolutely take legitimate and necessary counter-measures in light of the development of the situation," he said.

In reaction, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, said his organization opposed what he termed a "limited approach" to arms sales to Taiwan.

"As the (China's) People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently demonstrated in its mock blockade, the island faces a range of threats that require a range of capabilities. To deny the island the ability to mount a full defense will, over time, create new gaps in Taiwan’s defenses that the PLA can exploit," Hammond-Chambers argued.

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