US announces USD 11 billion arms package for Taiwan, China protests

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images

The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than USD 10 billion that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China.

The State Department announced the sales late Wednesday during a nationally televised address by President Donald Trump, who made scant mention of foreign policy issues and did not speak about China or Taiwan at all.

US-Chinese tensions have ebbed and flowed during Trump's second term, largely over trade and tariffs but also over China's increasing aggressiveness toward Taiwan, which Beijing has said must reunify with the mainland.

If approved by Congress, it would be the largest-ever US weapons package to Taiwan, exceeding the total amount of $8.4 billion in US arms sales to Taiwan during the Biden administration.

The eight arms sales agreements announced Wednesday cover 82 high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, and 420 Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, similar to what the US had been providing Ukraine during the Biden administration to defend itself from Russia, worth more than $4 billion.

They also include 60 self-propelled howitzer systems and related equipment worth more than $4 billion and drones valued at more than $1 billion.

Other sales in the package include military software valued at more than $1 billion, Javelin and TOW missiles worth more than $700 million, helicopter spare parts worth $96 million, and refurbishment kits for Harpoon missiles worth $91 million. The eight sales agreements amount to $11.15 billion, according to Taiwan's Defence Ministry.

China urged the US to "immediately stop" arming Taiwan. "The US has announced plans to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan, which seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

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No. of arms sales agreements US announced

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