Package includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, and has drawn an angry response from China
The maps that show how China’s military is squeezing Taiwan
The Trump administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10bn that includes medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones, drawing an angry response from China.
The state department announced the sales late on 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.
The eight arms sales agreements announced on Wednesday cover 82 high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or Himars, and 420 army tactical missile systems, or Atacms – similar to those the US had been sending to Ukraine during the Biden administration to defend itself from Russia – worth more than $4bn. They also include 60 self-propelled howitzer systems and related equipment worth more than $4bn, as well as drones valued at more than $1bn.
