6 months ago
2
The United States has approved $330 million-worth of parts and instrumentality successful its archetypal subject merchantability to Taiwan since U.S. President Donald Trump’s instrumentality to the White House, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said connected Friday (November 14, 2025).
Washington is Taipei’s biggest arms supplier and a cardinal deterrent to a imaginable Chinese attack, but Mr. Trump’s remarks connected Taiwan person raised doubts astir his willingness to support the antiauthoritarian island.
Beijing claims Taiwan is portion of its territory and has threatened to usage unit to bring it nether its control.
“This marks the archetypal clip the caller Trump medication has announced an arms merchantability to Taiwan,” the Foreign Ministry said, aft the U.S. State Department approved the package.
Taiwan requested “non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and instrumentality enactment for F-16, C-130, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft,” a connection posted connected the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
Taiwan has its ain defence industry, but the island’s subject would beryllium massively outgunned successful a struggle with China and remains heavy reliant connected U.S. weapons for self-defence.
‘Strategic ambiguity’
While the United States is legally bound to supply arms to Taiwan, Washington has agelong maintained “strategic ambiguity” erstwhile it comes to whether it would deploy its subject to support the land from a Chinese attack.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has been astatine pains to find favour with Mr. Trump, vowing to rise defence spending to much than 3% of GDP adjacent twelvemonth and 5% by 2030.
Mr. Lai has besides pledged to boost concern successful the United States arsenic his authorities tries to trim Mr. Trump’s 20% tariff connected Taiwanese exports.
But his government’s plans for a peculiar defence fund of up to NT$1 trillion (US$32 billion) could beryllium derailed by the main absorption Kuomintang party, which controls the parliament with the assistance of the Taiwan People’s Party.
Opposition lawmakers person expressed vexation implicit the backlog of U.S. deliveries to Taiwan, worthy billions of dollars, caused by Covid-19 proviso concatenation disruptions and U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine and Israel.
The Beijing-friendly KMT’s caller chairperson Cheng Li-wun told AFP precocious that Taiwan cannot spend to summation defence spending supra 3% of GDP, saying “Taiwan isn’t an ATM”.
The U.S. arms merchantability is the archetypal since December 2024 nether erstwhile President Joe Biden.
It comes arsenic Beijing and Tokyo enactment implicit remarks by Japan’s caller hawkish premier astir Taiwan.
Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament past week that equipped attacks connected Taiwan could warrant sending troops to enactment the land nether “collective self-defence”.
Beijing has slammed Ms. Takaichi’s remarks, with its overseas ministry connected Thursday saying it “will by nary means tolerate” it.
