{"id":4421,"date":"2025-12-18T06:36:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/us-approves-11bn-in-arms-sales-to-taiwan-in-deal-likely-to-anger-china\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T06:36:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:36:37","slug":"us-approves-11bn-in-arms-sales-to-taiwan-in-deal-likely-to-anger-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/us-approves-11bn-in-arms-sales-to-taiwan-in-deal-likely-to-anger-china\/","title":{"rendered":"US approves $11bn in arms sales to Taiwan in deal likely to anger China"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Huge US arms package for Taiwan includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzer artillery, antitank missiles, and drones.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The United States has approved $11.1bn in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/3\/13\/taiwan-says-tougher-measures-needed-to-counter-chinese-infiltration\">arms sales to Taiwan<\/a>, one of Washington\u2019s largest-ever weapons packages for the self-ruled island, which Beijing has promised to unify with mainland China.<\/p>\n<p>The US State Department announced the deal late on Wednesday during a nationally televised address by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/13\/china-holds-low-key-nanjing-massacre-memorial-without-xi-amid-japan-row\">China holds low-key Nanjing Massacre memorial without Xi amid Japan row<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/16\/trump-urges-chinas-xi-to-free-jailed-hong-kong-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai\">Trump urges China\u2019s Xi to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/17\/us-senate-passes-901bn-defence-bill\">US Senate passes $901bn defence bill<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/economy\/2025\/12\/18\/can-india-catch-up-with-the-us-taiwan-and-china-in-the-global-chip-race\">Can India catch up with the US, Taiwan and China in the global chip race?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Weapons in the proposed sale include 82 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and 420 Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS \u2013 worth more than $4bn \u2013 defence systems that are similar to what the US had been providing Ukraine to defend against Russian aerial attacks.<\/p>\n<p>The deal also includes 60 self-propelled howitzer artillery systems and related equipment worth more than $4bn and drones valued at more than $1bn.<\/p>\n<p>Other sales in the package include military software valued at more than $1bn, Javelin and TOW missiles worth more than $700m, helicopter spare parts worth $96m and refurbishment kits for Harpoon missiles worth $91m.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of separate statements announcing details of the weapons deal, the Pentagon said the sales served US national, economic and security interests by supporting Taiwan\u2019s continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a \u201ccredible defensive capability\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry and presidential office <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/26\/1768\">welcomed the news<\/a> while China\u2019s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<p>Washington\u2019s huge sale of arms to Taiwan will likely infuriate China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States continues to assist Taiwan in maintaining sufficient self-defence capabilities and in rapidly building strong deterrent power,\u201d Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan presidential office spokesperson Karen Kuo said Taiwan would continue to reform its defence sector and \u201cstrengthen whole-of-society defence resilience\u201d to \u201cdemonstrate our determination to defend ourselves, and safeguard peace through strength\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday that it opposed efforts by the US Congress to pass bills \u201crelated to Taiwan and firmly opposes any form of military contact between the US and Taiwan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge the US to abide by the one China principle and the provisions of the three Sino-US joint communiques : Stop \u2018arming Taiwan\u2019, stop reviewing relevant bills, and stop interfering in China\u2019s internal affairs,\u201d the office\u2019s spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Zhu said Taiwan\u2019s political leaders were pursuing \u201cindependence\u201d, and were \u201cwilling to let external forces turn the island into a \u2018war porcupine\u2019,\u201d which could result in the population becoming \u201ccannon fodder\u201d and \u201cslaughtered at will, which is despicable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/5\/19\/troublemaker-william-lai-ching-te-to-take-oath-as-taiwans-new-president\">Taiwan\u2019s President William Lai Ching-te<\/a> last month announced a $40bn supplementary defence budget, to run from 2026 to 2033, saying there was \u201cno room for compromise on national security\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huge US arms package for Taiwan includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzer artillery, antitank missiles, and drones. The United States has approved $11.1bn in arms sales to Taiwan, one of Washington\u2019s largest-ever weapons packages for the self-ruled island, which Beijing has promised to unify with mainland China. The US State Department announced the deal late on &#8230; <a title=\"US approves $11bn in arms sales to Taiwan in deal likely to anger China\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/us-approves-11bn-in-arms-sales-to-taiwan-in-deal-likely-to-anger-china\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about US approves $11bn in arms sales to Taiwan in deal likely to anger China\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}