Update: the State Department said the Stinger shipment was part of a 2019 arms sale, not a new military aid package
Taiwanese media has reported that Taiwan received delivery of Raytheon-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from the US as part of a $500 million package of free military aid that Washington has been preparing for Taipei.
According to Taipei Times, the Stingers arrived in a Boeing 747 on Thursday night. So far, the US and Taiwanese governments have not confirmed the delivery, but both sides said recently that the $500 million in weapons would be sent soon.
The $500 million in free weapons is being pulled from US military stockpiles using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the primary way the Biden administration has been arming Ukraine. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes $1 billion in PDA for Taiwan.
The military aid for Taiwan is unprecedented as the US has sold weapons to the island since severing relations with Taipei in 1979 to open up with China but hasn’t provided arms free of charge.
The NDAA also included $2 billion for Taiwan under the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program, which gives foreign governments money to purchase US arms. But the FMF funds did not make it past the appropriations committee.
The new US support angers China as it views such steps as an affront to Washington’s one-China policy. Taiwanese media has also recently reported that the US sent about 200 troops to Taiwan to assist in training.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has called the planned military aid and troop deployments “absolutely intolerable” and said the increasing US support for Taiwan has “shaken the foundation of the China-US relations and undermined the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Cash transfer from citizen taxpayers to alien oligarch warmongers.
If my “portfilio” was anything other than a hobby I’d park a bunch of money in defence stocks.
Let’s just say they are wildly out perfoming.
The George Bush administration was the time to invest. In oil and manufacturers of war goods.
Defense stocks are outperforming darn near everything in the market and are predicted to keep doing so.
Another super dooper weapons system that China’s buddy Russia has been practicing and perfecting various ways to respond to their use in Ukraine.
These might be really effective against tiny countries in the Mideast and their tiny militaries full of guys who just learned what a clock is but this is more for show than something that has China worried it will keep them at bay.
Part of Free Military Aid Package from US
really, “free” ? sure thing = Raytheon and associates crank out missiles and bullets 24-7 free of charge. just ask your grandchildren what their tax money is paying for.
Give me a break! We taxpayers paid for those things. They are NOT free!
“Report: Taiwan Receives Stinger Missiles as Part of Free Military Aid Package from US – The delivery hasn’t been confirmed by the US or Taiwan”
Sure, the Executive branch and Congress just increased the debt ceiling to an unimaginable level by suspending any enforcement or restrictions on how high it can grow. Now they can go on spending money like a drunken sailor.
Free weapons for my friends said Uncle Sam. After all he is paying the tab!
Any bets that America will hit a debt of $50 Trillion by 2025?
Taiwan needs free weapons as they are not making as much debt as America.
“In 2022, Taiwan’s gross domestic product amounted to around 761.69 billion U.S. dollars. Taiwan’s GDP is projected to reach 990.75 billion U.S. dollars by 2028. Taiwan’s national debt is estimated to amount to 142.45 billion U.S. dollars in 2028.”
“The economy of Taiwan is officially reported as having a debt-to-GDP ratio of 24.0%, indicating Taiwan’s debt level is declining.”
Meanwhile America’s debt just keeps building like a sea anchor about to drag the ship of state down into the financial abyss.
“American debt at the end of FY 2022 the federal debt was $30.84 trillion. At the end of FY 2023 federal debt is “guesstimated” to amount to $32.69 trillion.”
“US debt ratio to GDP? United States Total Debt accounted for 764.7 % of the country’s GDP in 2022, compared with the ratio of 772.1 % in the previous quarter.”
What’s in US debt ceiling deal and who won?
In the deal reached on Sunday, they have not raised the limit to a certain level, but suspended it entirely until 2025.
The agreement keeps non-defense spending flat next year, with a 1% rise in 2025. The implications of this belt tightening is as yet unclear.
Defense spending would increase to $886bn, which amounts to a 3% rise on this year.
Medicaid remains untouched in the deal, but the age at which work requirements are included for those on SNAP was raised from 50 to 54.
A win for Democrats was securing $80bn for a decade to help the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to enforce the tax code in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act on the richest.
Remember IRS agents with guns are coming to enforce taxes on the “wealthy middle class”, i.e.airline pilots, doctors, et al.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65744615
Over 582,000 homeless Americans.
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-homeless-people-are-in-the-us-what-does-the-data-miss/
Many of whom are veterans.
And the Democrat-led White House is giving away $500 MILLION in Stingers to Taiwan.
And the media/the masses don’t seem to notice/care.
Humanity sucks.
☮
Rather disappointing and poignant that we do not have progressives for peace any more. It is what happens when they feed at the same money bucket that the other party eats. Doubly so since the insane Citizens United decision by SCOTUS.
No, humanity is just fine. Please don’t confuse Anglo-American empire with the rest of the world.
Whatever it takes to start a war…
The imperial filth must be brought back down from their fantasy cloud of ‘exceptional omnipotence’ It’s very dangerous to allow these parasites to think they can start conflicts without any ramifications. Tolerating imperial aggression for the passed 20 years has brought us to this dangerous point.