Taiwan will purchase 400 Boeing-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles under a contract worth $1.7 billion, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Taipei has previously purchased ship-launched Harpoons, which are also made by Boeing, but the new deal is for a ground-launched mobile version of the anti-ship missiles. According to Bloomberg, the sale will complete a deal approved by Congress in 2020.
The Pentagon announced a $1.7 billion contract with Boeing on April 7 but wouldn’t say if the deal was for Taiwan. The Harpoon deal has been cited by Congress as part of what they call a $19 billion “backlog” in arms sales to Taiwan, although weapons purchases typically take years to fulfill.
The US has always sold weapons to Taiwan since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979. But in recent years, arms sales have ramped up, and the US is now prepared to provide Taiwan with unprecedented military aid.
News of the Harpoon sale comes as tensions between the US and China are soaring over Taiwan. Beijing just recently concluded major live-fire drills around the island that were a direct response to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California.
Also on Monday, Taiwanese media reported that over 200 US troops are now in Taiwan to help train the island’s armed forces. The deployment marks a significant expansion of the US military presence in Taiwan, as only a few dozen American troops were stationed there before.
The arms industry seems like it is in overdrive… Maybe it is time to talk about sustainable solutions, compromises that can be respected by all sides. Profits before people?…………………….
Solutions? When did we solve anything? Everyday, the first thing I see is more escalation from the US. And everyday I ask, how high can we ratchet it up our escalation without going into actual WWIII? …I guess that’s the Neocon solution to the problem you’re talking about? …Okay, you got me. Never mind… (Sarcasm alert)
In the meantime, fat cats in the MIC are making bank. A grand time!
That will put a dent in your invasion fleet.
First, China had no intention of invading Taiwan before the DC psychopaths got involved. The idea was to show the Taiwanese that being connected with China was beneficial to the people of Taiwan. This was to be a decades endeavor…
Second, in any really hot conflict, harpoon sites would be destroyed.
Third, the tactically obsolete U S carrier battle groups would be unable to intervene. The historical advantage these had was an enemy couldn’t find them. And a combat air patrol could protect them from an air attack. Neither of these is valid against a peer power now. The carrier groups can be found by satellites and then attacked by missiles. Note that there is no defense against hypersonic missiles.
Last, a conflict with China over Taiwan would just result in a humiliation of the USA and a lot of dead people for absolutely no good reason. Unfortunately doing stupid, wasteful and deadly things is what Washington DC excels at.
A friend of ours, retired Air Force pilot, said that carriers are nice little targets. Slow, easy to track.
And that was your first thought?
No my first thought was “You sunk my battleship”
lol
Sale…? Or US taxpayer giveaway? Not an important enough detail for the story to clarify I suppose.
“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace.”
That’s what the Brazilian president said about the Russia/Ukraine war. It’s a statement that could be used on a daily basis here at anti-war.com and each time with a different set of countries.
Are finest export: WAR AND WAR WEAPONS. Ain’t it grand??
US arm sale Greed never stops…!
https://www.indianpunchline.com/china-russia-circle-wagons-in-asia-pacific/
China and Russia Circle Wagons In Asia Pacific. Authord by MK Bhadrakumar.
Providing arms to a renegade province is a violation of the UN Charter. Article 2 (4) of the Charter prohibits the threat or use of force and calls on all Members to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of other States.
Taiwan neither is nor ever has been a “province” of the People’s Republic of China. Therefore, providing arms to it has no bearing whatsoever on the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of the PRC.
That’s the ‘party line’ — “Taiwan neither is nor ever has been a “province” of the People’s Republic of China.”
It’s irrelevant — governments change but the state remains.
province: a principal administrative division of certain countries or empires.
Taiwan is a a principal administrative division of China which in fact pretends to be the government of China, calling itself the Republic of China, so obviously it’s part of China. It’s called “one state.”
Cha-ching again for the Death Merchants!
Well that sounds worrisome, but….
A $1.17 billion deal for 400 of the anti-ship missiles was revealed by the Pentagon on 7 April; the customer was not named, but it was said that manufacture was anticipated to be finished by March 2029.https://www.firstpost.com/world/taiwan-to-buy-400-us-anti-ship-missiles-to-face-china-threat-say-sources-12468192.html
Are we planning to deliver to China?