The White House is going forward with the sale of three weapons packages to Taiwan, according to a report from Reuters. Sources said that the Trump administration recently notified Congress about the deal.
The weapons being sold include a truck-based rocket launcher made by Lockheed Martin, long-range missiles made by Boeing, and external sensor pods for F-16 jets.
The three sales could be the first of many. In September, sources told Reuters that the Trump administration was preparing for a massive arms sale to Taiwan that could include up to seven types of weapons systems.
The news of the arms sale comes a week after US officials encouraged Taiwan to spend more money on defense. At an event last week, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien warned China against an invasion of Taiwan and urged Taipei to increase its military budget. A Pentagon official made a similar plea during the annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference last week.
Since the US severed ties with Taipei in 1979, Washington has sold arms to the island to discourage China from invading. Those sales are lucrative for US weapons makers, and Taiwan is a leading customer. In the 2019 fiscal year, Taiwan requested more weapons from the US than any other country.
The Trump administration has increased ties with Taipei in other ways. President Trump signed a bill into law in 2018 that paved the way for high-level visits to Taiwan. US Health Secretary Alex Azar visited Taiwan in August, making him the highest-level US official to visit the island since 1979.
The only weapons that could prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be nuclear weapons
So that’s why Iran wanted them, and the rumor was that Iraq did too. Maybe every country should have nuclear weapons, that way there would never ever be any more invasions by us or others.
Just more peace overtures by our “no new wars” president. The yard sale continues.
The US motto used to be peace through strength now it seems to be peace through world wide domination. What do we want, a war with China? Why? Is it the death and destruction that turns us on or maybe the glory of it all, manipulating the masses and get them to start killing each other so we can sit back and laugh all the way to the bank, supplying the weapons and know how of war. Shame shame on the US, my country for playing the deadly games we have been playing not just in China but around the world.
I agree, there is no reason to massively arm Taiwan. Let the Chinese go ahead and invade, then react. There is no difference, because China would take out Taiwan in a half hour no matter what we sell them. Taiwanese retaliation against China would be suicidal. All the arms sale accomplish is money for insiders and worse relations.