The Pentagon announced late Thursday that the U.S. has approved a $330 million sale of fighter jet parts to Taiwan, marking the first such arms transaction since President Donald Trump took office in January.
“The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of the recipient’s fleet of F-16, C-130,” and other aircraft, the Pentagon said in a statement.
U.S.–Taiwan Security Ties
Washington has formal diplomatic ties with Beijing, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island’s most important arms supplier. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement that it expected the sales to “take effect” within one month.
“The United States continues to help Taiwan maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities, for which the ministry expresses its gratitude,” it added.
Deterring China
The provision of the parts will help maintain the air force’s fighter readiness and bolster air defenses, strengthen defensive resilience and enhance the island’s ability to respond to China’s “gray-zone” incursions, the ministry said.
China’s military stages regular missions into the waters and skies around Taiwan, which the government in Taipei terms “gray zone” activities designed to pressure the island but which stop short of actual combat.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taiwan’s government strongly objects to Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
The announcement of the possible arms sale comes after Trump and Xi met late last month in South Korea in an effort to secure a trade deal. Ahead of the meeting there was a fear in Taipei that there could have been some sort of “selling out” of Taiwan’s interests by Trump to Xi.
(With inputs from Reuters)
