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The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth
The US is quietly arming Taiwan to the teeth
Published
1 day ago
By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Taiwan
------
When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m (£64.6m) grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done.
To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter? ... While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different.
The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF).
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, FMF has been used to send around $4bn of military aid to Kyiv. ... It has been used to send billions more to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Egypt and so on. But until now it has only ever been given to countries or organisations recognised by the United Nations. Taiwan is not.
{snip}
Published
1 day ago
By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Taiwan
------
When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m (£64.6m) grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done.
To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter? ... While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different.
The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF).
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, FMF has been used to send around $4bn of military aid to Kyiv. ... It has been used to send billions more to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Egypt and so on. But until now it has only ever been given to countries or organisations recognised by the United Nations. Taiwan is not.
{snip}