Trump Willing To Stoke China's Anger, Approves $8 Billion Arms Deal To Taiwan

The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday that the Trump administration has formally approved a sale of 66 new F-16C/D fighter jets to Taiwan with a price tag of $8 billion. This comes at a time of great tension between China and the U.S., the two top military powers in the world, over trade issues, the unrest in Hong Kong and Beijing’s aggressive stance in the South China Sea.

Animosity between communist China and democratic Taiwan has been brewing since the 1949 civil war when the last remaining Republic of China (ROC) members fled to the island to escape the communists. Taiwan is now aligned with the U.S. and has grown as an Asian economic player.

Beijing, not surprisingly, was quick to criticize the sale as they have previous U.S. arms sales to the island nation, dubbing them as a violation of China's sovereignty despite the Chinese Communist Party having never governed the island. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said Friday that the United States' arms sales to Taiwan undermine China's sovereignty and core interests.

Hua said China "…firmly opposes this…” demanding that the U.S. refrain from selling the fighter jets and stop military contact with Taiwan. She added, "It must be stressed that the Taiwan issue concerns China's sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests. The US will have to bear all the consequences….”

But Washington remains eager to keep Taiwan prepared to stave off any invasion from their large neighbor to the east and has provided arms to Taiwan as part of the 40-year -old Taiwan Relations Act. Since 2010, the U.S. has announced more than $15 billion in arms sales to Taiwan. Just last month the U.S. approved a $2.2 billion arms package that includes over 100 Abrams tanks and about 250 shoulder-launched Stingers missiles.

The strongest message coming out of Washington was that this deal had strong bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress which is a rare event as the 2020 presidential election draws near in a politically divided country.

Democratic Representative Eliot Engel of New York and Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas may be on the polar opposites politically but they issued a joint statement concerning the arms sale stating, "The sale of F-16s to Taiwan sends a strong message about the US commitment to security and democracy in the Indo-Pacific.” They said Taiwan should, "have every confidence that it will be supported on a bipartisan and bicameral basis." This was in reference to China’s military aggression in Asian waters.