US approves Taiwan drone purchase as arms sales escalate

The Trump administration has notified Congress that it has authorized the sale of $600 million in armed drones to Taiwan, the most recent in a collection of arms transfers for the island.

The State Department stated Tuesday it had Ok’d Taiwan’s buy of 4 “weapons ready” remotely piloted plane and associated tools. The transfer is prone to infuriate China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has reacted angrily to earlier weapons gross sales’ bulletins to the island.

“This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,” it stated. “The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, economic and progress in the region.”

It stated the sale would enhance Taiwan’s protection by bolstering its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and will assist deter army motion in opposition to it.

Just final week, the administration authorized plans for a $2.37 billion sale of Harpoon missile methods to Taiwan. That got here hours after Beijing had introduced sanctions on U.S. protection contractors, together with Boeing, the lead contractor on the Harpoon deal, over a earlier weapons deal.

China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan, which cut up with the mainland in 1949 throughout a civil struggle, as a part of its territory and has threatened to invade. Washington promised within the 1980s to scale back and ultimately finish weapons gross sales to Taiwan however insists its dispute with Beijing should be settled peacefully.

Chinese-U.S. relations have plunged to their lowest stage in a long time amid disputes about safety, expertise, the coronavirus pandemic and human rights.

Taiwan has lengthy been an irritant in relations. Washington has no formal relations with the island’s democratically-elected authorities however is its primary ally. U.S. regulation requires the federal government to make sure Taiwan can defend itself. Weapons gross sales to the island have elevated in amount and high quality.