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A planned arms sale to Taiwan, amounting to $ 330 million, was de facto approved by Congress, paving the way for the conclusion by the US State Department, and potentially upsetting Beijing.
The sale was subject to a 30-day review process that expired at midnight Wednesday night without any disapproval of Congress. The Senate External Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee jointly had the power to suspend the sale.
This agreement marks the second arms sale to Taiwan in less than 18 months by US President Donald Trump. The administration approved an initial US $ 1.4 billion agreement in June 2017 to show support and strengthen the defense ties between Washington and Taipei.
The new sale relates to the spare parts of "F-16, C-130, Indigenous Defense Aircraft (IDF), all other aircraft systems and subsystems, as well as other related elements of the logistics and program support, "according to the Pentagon security and defense agency.
Approval comes a few days after the crossing of the Taiwan Strait by two US warships and also before the conference between the defense industry and representatives of Taiwan. The conference, scheduled to begin Monday in Annapolis, Maryland, is expected to bring together Taiwan's deputy defense minister, Chang Guan-chung, as well as US government officials.
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The annual event "is part of a series of conferences on the future of US defense cooperation with Taiwan, Taiwan's defense procurement process, and Taiwan's defense and national security needs", said the Taiwan-US Business Council.
China strongly opposes any arms sales and official contact with Taiwan in the United States, which Beijing sees as an unstable province of unification by force with the continent if necessary. The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with the Autonomous Island, but has informal links and is their only arms supplier.
At the Xiangshan Security Forum in Beijing on Thursday, Wei Fenghe, China's defense minister, vowed not to yield "an inch" of territory.
"China is the only great nation in the world that is not unified … and the Chinese army has the heavy responsibility of not letting an inch of its territory be lost," said Wei. "If there is someone trying to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will take action."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also urged the United States to "correct their mistakes" [and] put an end to all official contacts and military relations with the Taiwan region, as well as its arms sales to it. "
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When promoting the sale in September, the Pentagon said the deal "would contribute to US foreign policy and national security by helping to improve the security and defense capability of the recipient, who was and continues to be an important factor ". strength for political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region ".
He added that "the proposed sale of this equipment and its support will not change the basic military balance in the region".
In the last 10 years, Washington has rejected many of Taipei's requests for new weapons systems and delayed others, Financial Times the Trump administration is returning to a process where Taipei's arms purchase applications are being reviewed more quickly.
The practices of the past decade have "caused considerable damage," said FT, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, chairman of the Taiwan-US Business Council. "They have left China too involved in the process and added extra cost to Taiwan's ability to keep a credible defense."
This month, Randall Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, told the Central News Agency in Taiwan that the United States was moving towards "a more foreign military sales relationship." normal "with Taiwan.
Douglas Paal, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, of the de facto US embbady in Taipei from 2002 to 2006, agreed that US arms sales to Taiwan "should be routine".
Beijing asks the United States to cancel a $ 330 million deal on the sale of arms to Taiwan
"The idea was to make them more of a question of what is needed to [Taiwan’s] Defense and security, "said Paal," rather than knowing how this will affect a future meeting with China or any other event or eventuality. If this process is now routine, I applaud the decision. "
However, Paal, now vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added that "Taiwan's reluctance to engage in serious weapons programs due to budgetary or bureaucratic and political considerations is more likely to have an additional cost for a defense.
Taiwan has always expressed a desire to acquire more sophisticated American weapons. His Department of Defense stated that he needed the M1A2 Abrams battle tanks and that he planned to acquire "new fighters capable of performing vertical or short take-offs and landings and exhibiting stealth ".
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