Taiwan’s parliament is set to authorise the government to sign agreements to purchase US weapons worth $11.1 billion (€9.65 billion) before the deals expire.
According to the official Central News Agency (CNA), the parliamentary groups of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have reached an agreement.
The deal will allow the signing of letters of offer and acceptance for four weapons systems: M142 HIMARS rocket launchers, M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles and BGM-71 TOW 2B missiles.
During inter-party negotiations, the head of the defence ministry’s Strategic Planning Department, Huang Wen-chi, warned that part of the ammunition included in the package could be excluded if Taiwan does not sign the HIMARS documentation by March 26. For the other three systems, the deadline falls on March 15.
The text is expected to be approved in a plenary session of the Legislative Yuan, where the opposition — led by the KMT and TPP — holds a majority. The parliamentary debate takes place amid political tensions over defence spending, as the opposition has questioned the government’s management of a special defence budget plan valued at around 1.25 trillion new Taiwan dollars (approximately €34.15 billion) and criticised what it considers an “extremely opaque” process.
The US military package also includes Altius-600 and Altius-700M drones, though their letters of acceptance have not yet been issued, according to CNA.
Read more: China’s Government vows to fight independence movement in Taiwan (with video)
The US arms purchases form part of defence cooperation between Washington and Taipei, which has intensified in recent years alongside growing Chinese military pressure on the island. Beijing, which considers Taiwan an “inalienable part” of its territory and has repeatedly stated it does not rule out the use of force to achieve what it describes as “reunification” with the island, has condemned the US arms sales on multiple occasions.
