The backlog illustrates sluggish progress, with Abrams tanks and HIMARS programs arriving after years of delays, the outlet reviews
Taiwan has obtained 38 Abrams tanks from the US after a five-year wait, the Wall Avenue Journal reported on Friday. Provide-chain issues “have confirmed more practical in conserving superior American weaponry out of Taiwanese palms” than Beijing’s warnings have, the newspaper famous.
China views the self-governing island as part of its territory. The US formally adheres to Beijing’s One-China coverage, recognizing Taiwan as a part of the Folks’s Republic, although Washington concurrently engages in army cooperation with the federal government in Taipei, which Beijing strongly opposes.
The backlog of paid-for-but-undelivered US weapons awaited in Taiwan exceeded $20 billion at its peak earlier this yr, in accordance with Eric Gomez, a protection analyst on the Cato Institute, cited within the WSJ report.
Taiwan hailed the arrival of its first batch of M1A2 Abrams tanks this week, the report mentioned. The 38 tanks had been a part of a 108-unit order positioned in June 2019 throughout then-US President Donald Trump’s first time period, with preliminary deliveries scheduled for 2022. The timeline apparently slipped by two years as a result of disruptions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and elevated international demand stemming from conflicts in Ukraine and the Center East.
The tanks are the newest in a sequence of delayed US arms shipments to Taiwan. Latest deliveries, together with the HIMARS rocket programs final month, have begun to scale back the full to roughly $19.17 billion, Gomez mentioned. The remaining 70 Abrams tanks and F-16V fighter jets are anticipated by 2026.
Taiwan can also be set to obtain a cargo of TOW-2B anti-tank missiles by the top of the yr. Their sale was accredited nearly a decade in the past beneath then-President Barack Obama.
Beijing has constantly opposed US arms gross sales to Taipei, with International Ministry spokesman Lin Jian urging Washington on Monday to “cease arming Taiwan and cease encouraging or supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ forces attempting to attain their objectives by way of army means.”
China’s International Ministry highlighted that Washington’s ongoing help of Taipei contradicts earlier commitments made by the US beneath the August 17 Communiqué from 1982, wherein the US pledged to not pursue a long-term coverage of arms gross sales to the island and expressed its intention to progressively cut back arms gross sales over time.
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