Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s team authorized the sale of military equipment valued at $2.2 billion to Taiwan, just a few months after President Tsai Ing-wen made a public appeal for new tanks and fighter jets in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s saber-rattling.
The deal drew a rebuke from Beijing, where senior diplomats have been warning that American support can’t prevent the ultimate reunification of Taiwan with the mainland.
Taiwan’s impending purchase of 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, along with related equipment, is a shrewd move, the State Department maintained in the face of Chinese complaints.
“We view this proposed sale of M1A2T tanks as a smart defense investment to upgrade a current capability,” a State Department official told the Washington Examiner, on condition of anonymity. “This sale provides modern armor capability and will contribute to the effective defense of the island by supporting Taiwan’s ongoing efforts to modernize its defense forces.”
Beijing has a very different view. “The U.S. arms sale to Taiwan … flagrantly interferes in China’s domestic affairs and harms China’s sovereignty and security interests,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday. “We urge the U.S. to stay committed to the one-China principle and the three joint communiqués, cancel this arms sale immediately, and stop military ties with Taiwan to prevent further damage to China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
The Chinese government regards Taiwan, the last holdout of the government overthrown in the civil war that brought the Communist Party to power in 1949, as a renegade province. The United States has not had formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 1979 but has nevertheless maintained a friendly relationship with the government in Taipei for decades and sought to deter Beijing from launching an invasion of the island.
“They need to be able to hold out for a while until we can mobilize and we can get in there, we and our allies, and repel the Chinese,” Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, told the Washington Examiner. “You’re looking for an ability to complicate their plans and by complicating therefore deter them from ever attempting something like that.”
The new tanks, he said, “could complicate an amphibious landing” by the People’s Liberation Army and thereby deprive Chinese military planners of a quick victory.
“The United States has far more resiliency politically — Taiwan does too — than the Chinese have,” Lohman added. “The longer you can draw out a conflict, the more complicated you can make it … the more discomfort you put the CCP leadership in in Beijing.”
The State Department’s approval of the deal starts the clock on a 30-day congressional review process. China’s recent campaign to isolate Taiwan internationally has prompted lawmakers in both parties to take a protective stance towards the island, despite Beijing’s refrain.
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory,” Gang said Tuesday. “No one should underestimate the Chinese government and people’s will and resolve to defend our sovereignty and national integrity against foreign interference.”
U.S. officials and analysts regard Taiwan’s de facto independence as an impediment to China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific region. But the State Department’s announcement Monday notably did not include authorization of a sale of new F-16 fighter jets, which Taiwan also hopes to secure.
“Our longstanding policy on arms sales to Taiwan has been consistent across multiple U.S. administrations,” the State Department official said. “Our consistent policy has contributed to the security of Taiwan and also supported the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
