President Trump has decided to approve a major sale of new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, advancing a substantial upgrade of the island’s military defenses amid an array of tensions with China.
“These fighters are critical to improving Taiwan’s ability to defend its sovereign airspace, which is under increasing pressure from the People’s Republic of China,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman James Risch, an Idaho Republican, said Friday.
The administration gave lawmakers a preview of the decision on Thursday, starting the clock on an informal review period that typically takes 30 days to complete. That process could be sped up, as U.S. policymakers are increasingly frustrated with China over the trade war and Beijing’s heavy-handed response to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
“If Trump is willing to open a third front against China, he’s not going to get pushback on it from up here,” a congressional aide familiar with the process told the Washington Examiner. “The Chinese are so far out of line that there’s bipartisan consensus on the need for pushback.”
The deal is expected to cover as many as 66 of the latest F-16V fighter jets, at a cost of roughly $8 billion. The State Department demurred when asked for specific information on this weapons package, citing a policy of declining to comment on such agreements until the conclusion of the informal review process, when Congress would receive a public message about the sale.
“We are aware of media reports regarding a possible sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan,” a State Department official told the Washington Examiner. “We refer you to the Taiwan authorities regarding their defense procurement plans.”
An official at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s unofficial embassy in the United States, struck an optimistic note. “We look forward to seeing this arms sale get through in due course,” a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
The reported fighter jet sale comes on the heels of a deal to sell 108 U.S.-made Abrams tanks to Taiwan, the last holdout of the government overthrown when Chinese Communist party came to power in 1949, after President Tsai Ing-wen made a public appeal for the new weapons systems in March.
“Taiwan continues to face monumental challenges from across the Taiwan strait,” she said during a live video conference with the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “China’s actions have underscored the need for Taiwan to increase our self-defense and deterrence capabilities.”
China reacted angrily to reports that the deal would be approved, demanding that the United States kill the fighter jet deal and “stop arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan,” which the mainland government regards as a breakaway province that must eventually be brought to heel.
“Otherwise, the Chinese side will surely make strong reactions, and the U.S. will have to bear all the consequences,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
But China hawks in Washington regard Taiwan’s de facto independence as a valuable impediment to Beijing’s ambitions to dominate the Indo-Pacific region.
“Today the administration took a critical step toward bolstering the national security of the United States and our longstanding ally Taiwan with the sale of F-16s,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee that oversees the State Department, said Friday. “With China building up its military to threaten us and our allies — and the People’s Liberation Army aiming thousands of missiles at Taiwan and deploying fighter aircrafts along the Taiwan Straight — now more than ever it is critical that Taiwan has the support needed to defend itself.”
