US President authorizes $571 million in defense support for self-governing island that Beijing insists is its sovereign territory
US President Joe Biden has authorized $571.3 million in defense assistance for Taiwan, according to a White House statement on Friday. Beijing, which sees the self-governing island as part of the People’s Republic of China, views these relations as a violation of its sovereignty and a threat to regional stability.
The aid package includes a potential sale of military equipment valued at approximately $265 million. The US government has also approved a $30-million sale of parts for 76-mm autocannons.
Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed gratitude, stating that the two sides would “continue to work closely on security issues to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait.”
While the US officially adheres to a One-China policy, recognizing Taiwan as part of China, it simultaneously engages in military cooperation with the government in Taipei.
In early December Beijing imposed sanctions on more than a dozen US military firms and senior executives in response to the approval of arms sales to Taipei. In November, the US State Department authorized a $385 million package, following one in October of up to $2 billion, having announced a $567-million deal in September.
Taiwan went on alert last week in response to what it described as China’s largest massing of naval forces in three decades around the island and in the East and South China Seas.
China also held large-scale military drills around the island in October. The government in Taipei has claimed that Beijing will never “renounce the use of force” against it.
China’s Foreign Ministry highlighted that Washington’s ongoing support of Taiwan contradicts earlier commitments made by the US under the August 17 Communiqué from 1982, in which the US pledged not to pursue a long-term policy of arms sales to the island and expressed its intention to gradually reduce arms sales over time.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that supply-chain issues have kept a lot of state-of-the-art weapons out of Taipei’s hands for years. Taiwan has only begun receiving delayed shipments of US arms, including 38 M1A2 Abrams tanks and HIMARS rocket systems, part of a backlog exceeding $20 billion, according to the publication.
