Dec. 18 (UPI) — The United States has approved a massive $11.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan, the self-government Asian island announced Thursday.
The U.S. Congress was informed of the sale on Wednesday, the president’s office said in a statement.
The package includes eight items, such as HIMARS rocket systems, TOW missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-armor loitering munition systems, spare attack helicopter parts and the Taiwan Tactical Network military communication platform and Tactical Awareness Kit, among other lethal equipment.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “welcomed” the announcement and expressed its “sincere appreciation for the United States’ long-standing support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense.
The arms sale is the second to Taiwan of President Donald Trump’s second administration and comes as China increases its military pressure on the self-governing island.
Hours prior to the deal being announced, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said 40 sorties of Chinese fighter jets and eight navy vessels were detected operating around the island. Of the fighter jets, 26 had crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern Air Defense Identification Zone.
A day earlier, 23 sorties of fighter jets were detected and nine fighter jets and seven navy vessels were spotted a day before that.
China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has vowed to take it back by force if necessary. Taiwan is a self-governing island that Beijing has never ruled.
The office of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said the arms deal highlights the close partnership between the two countries and demonstrates “the importance the U.S. government attaches to Taiwan’s national defense needs.”
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo added that due to increasing security concerns, Taiwan will raise defense spending to more than 3% of GDP next year and aims for it to be 5% by 2030.
“Taiwan will continue to reform national defense, strengthen whole-of-society defense resilience, demonstrate our determination for self-defense and maintain peace through strength,” Kuo said.
The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council said it was a record single U.S. security package for Taiwan and was in response to the threat posed by China and a potential Beijing ground invasion.
“We continue to see the prioritization of platforms and munitions that address a D-Day-style attack on the island,” USTBC President Rupert Hammond-Chamber said in a statement.