On Wednesday, the State Department made an announcement regarding a massive arms sale to Taiwan. This sale is sure to annoy mainland China, by which we mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but let's be honest, annoying the CCP is a good thing to do, every day and twice on Sunday.
And this sale is, as someone once said, a big freakin' deal.
The State Department on Wednesday announced more than $11 billion in potential weapons sales to Taiwan, including rocket systems, howitzers and drones, drawing condemnation from China.
Karen Kuo, a spokesperson for Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, said in a statement the president’s office is “sincerely grateful to the US government for once again demonstrating that it continues to fulfill its security commitments” to Taiwan.
And, yes, as we might have easily predicted, the CCP isn't pleased.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry at a news conference said the plan seriously undermines China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and damages peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported.
Let's translate that statement: By "...seriously undermines China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity," they mean "seriously complicates the task we would have in invading and conquering a sovereign nation with a freely elected government, that we have been making threatening moves towards for years." By "...damages peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," they mean "damages our odds of being capable of easily crossing that hundred miles or so of open water without suffering horrible losses."
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Here are the weapons systems being sold to Taiwan:
The State Department approved potential sales of an estimated $4.05 billion in 82 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and related equipment; $4.03 billion in 60 self-propelled howitzers and related equipment, $1.1 billion in ALTIUS-700M and ALTIUS-600 drone systems; $1.01 billion in tactical weapons network software including unmanned aerial systems; $819 million for two missile systems and related equipment and separate missile system repair support, and $96 million in helicopter parts.
That's a pretty decent laundry list, and several of those items, most notably the drone systems, are tailor-made for a small country standing off a much larger one. The Russo-Ukrainian War has shown how drones can be employed pretty effectively, and there's little doubt Taiwan has been paying attention.
The Chinese mainland government - the Chinese Communist Party - still considers Taiwan as a rogue province. Their policy for decades has been to eventually bring the island nation back under CCP control. Also, for decades, American policy has been to ensure Taiwan is well-equipped enough to stand off any such attempt, which would not be the easiest move; China's attempt to retake Taiwan would involve crossing that lovely 100 or so miles of open waters, while under observation and, likely, under fire the entire way by Taiwanese forces.
That's not to say that the Western Pacific isn't still a tense place. China will eventually make some kind of a move; maybe on Taiwan, maybe on the Philippines, maybe even on Japan. Japan is remembering that it once had a great martial tradition and has been dialing its military back in, increasing its readiness to a level not seen since 1945.
Maybe this arms sale, along with other recent sales to Taiwan, will make the CCP pause for reflection. But time isn't working for the CCP right now; the party leadership surely knows this, and it's difficult to predict what happens next.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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