BEIJING (Dispatches) – The United States has announced a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan as tensions soar with Beijing, which warned Washington of “countermeasures.”
The sale comes a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited Taiwan, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future invasion.
The package -- the largest for Taiwan approved under President Joe Biden’s administration -- includes $665 million for contractor support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in operation since 2013 that would warn Taiwan about an incoming attack.
Taiwan will also spend $355 million on 60 Harpoon Block II missiles, which can track and sink incoming vessels.
The deal also includes $85.6 million for more than 100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air firepower.
China warned the U.S. of impending countermeasures following the Biden administration’s approval of weapons sales.
Beijing was “firmly opposed” to the sales that “severely jeopardize China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington on Twitter Saturday, demanding that Washington “immediately revoke” the deal.
“The U.S. interferes in China’s internal affairs and undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests by selling arms to Taiwan,” wrote Liu Pengyu in the tweet, insisting that “it sends the wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and severely jeopardizes China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
He further called on Washington to “honor its commitments to the one-China principle” and concluded his series of tweets by reiterating that Taiwan is “an inalienable part of the Chinese territory,” vowing that Beijing will “resolutely take legitimate and necessary counter-measures.”
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last month despite stern warnings to Pelosi by China against making the trip. Beijing then reacted to Pelosi’s move by ordering days’ worth of military drills around the island after she had left.