Taiwan plans to propose a deal
to buy tanks and portable missiles from the U.S.This
proposal by Taiwan drew an angry
rebuke from China. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry requested the
US for 108 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, more than 1,500 Javelin and TOW
anti-tank missiles, and 250 shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles in
the proposal formally.
The U.S. government, on the other hand, has
given Congress informal notification of its plan to sell the equipment in a
deal worth $2
billion.
One-China
policy:
China has asked the U.S. to understand that its
decision to sell arms to Taiwan might cause problems between China and Taiwan
as it is expected Taiwan to abide by the One China principle.
One-China policy says that there is only one
country of China with the official name of China, despite the fact that there
are two governments namely the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC).
Despite being ruled separately since the end of
a civil war in 1949, China still views Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to
take the island, by force if necessary.
If China announces war on Taiwan, the country
outgunned in terms of troop
numbers and firepower.Hence, Taiwan is in need to upgrade much
of its equipment. Its current tank force consists of around 1,000 CM 11 Brave Tiger and M60A3
tanks, a technology that is increasingly obsolete.
Past
Taiwan and US deal:
The U.S. government announced plans in 2018 to
sell spare parts worth $330
million to Taiwan for its U.S. made F-16 fighter jets and C-130 military transport planes.
Taiwan has also submitted a formal request to Washington for new fighter jets
to upgrade its air force but the US had not made any open response yet.
