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The Pentagon revealed on Wednesday that the US has authorized the sale of $619 million in F-16 fighter jet munitions to Taiwan. Beijing is likely to take offense at this decision.
The package contains 200 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 100 AGM-88B High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM), and launchers and practice missiles, according to a statement from the Pentagon.
The sale will improve Taiwan’s “ability to provide for the protection of its airspace, regional security, and interoperability with the United States,” it added.
The statement comes at a time when tensions between the United States and China over Taiwan are at an all-time high, as well as after a balloon was shot down over US airspace last month, which Washington claims was a Chinese spy balloon.
Despite Taiwan’s long history of independence, China still views it as a province gone rogue.
Separately, the US State Department stated that the sale complies with both the Taiwan Relations Act and the US’s One China Policy, which recognizes that there is only one country named China.
According to the State Department, the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the area is aided by US support for Taiwan and actions Taiwan takes to improve its self-defense capabilities.
Taiwan expressed its appreciation for the first US weapons sales of the year and the ninth overall under President Joe Biden.
Taiwan will keep aggressively enhancing its capacity for self-defense in the face of China’s continued military buildup and belligerent actions, said Jeff Liu, a spokesman for the foreign ministry.
