Taiwan Receives First Batch of U.S.-Made Tanks

Date: 16 December 2024 - 23:52

News ID: ۱۳۴۷۵۲

TAIPEI (Dispatches) -- Taiwan has received 38 advanced Abrams battle tanks from the United States, the defense ministry said Monday, as Washington boosts the island’s military capabilities against China.
Washington has long been Taipei’s most important ally and biggest arms supplier -- angering Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.
The M1A2 tanks -- the first batch of 108 ordered in 2019 -- arrived in Taiwan late Sunday and were transferred to an army training base in Hsinchu, south of the capital Taipei, the defense ministry said.
The M1A2s are the first new tanks to be delivered to Taiwan in 30 years, the semi-official Central News Agency said.
Taiwan’s current tank force consists of around 1,000 Taiwan-made CM 11 Brave Tiger and U.S.-made M60A3 tanks, technology that is increasingly obsolete.
Abrams tanks, which are among the heaviest in the world, are a mainstay of the U.S. military.
China has refused to rule out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
While it has a home-grown defense industry and has been upgrading its equipment, Taiwan relies heavily on U.S. arms sales to bolster its security capabilities.
Taiwan requested the state-of-the-art M1A2 tanks in 2019, allocating the equivalent of more than $1.2 billion for them. The rest of the order is expected to be delivered in 2025 and 2026, an army official told AFP.
While U.S. arms supplies to Taiwan are enshrined into law, a massive backlog caused by Covid-19 supply chain disruptions and U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine and Israel have slowed deliveries to Taiwan.
The backlog now exceeds $21 billion, according to Washington think tank Cato Institute.
Taiwan would be massively outgunned in terms of troop numbers and firepower in any war with China and in recent years has increased spending on its military.
Taipei allocated a record $19 billion for 2024 and next year’s budget is set to hit a new high as it seeks to bolster its defense approach.
Taiwanese authorities said last week that China had held its biggest maritime drills in years, with around 90 ships deployed from near the southern islands of Japan to the South China Sea.
The vessels simulated attacks on foreign ships and practised blockading sea routes, a Taiwan security official said previously.
Beijing did not confirm the drills and its defense ministry did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a press conference on Friday.