December 21, 2024
No. 465
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has received official notification from the United States government that its executive branch has informed Congress of a nearly US$300 million arms sale to Taiwan, to include upgrades to the Link-16 tactical datalink system as well as 76-mm gun mounts and related equipment. MOFA wholeheartedly welcomes this development and thanks the US government for continuing to honor its security commitments to Taiwan as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances. Recently, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again publicly stressed that Taiwan was not China’s business but the world’s business. In its Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2024 report, the US Department of Defense explicitly pointed out that China has amplified pressure against Taiwan. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 adopted by the US Congress included a Taiwan security cooperation initiative. This latest round of arms sales to Taiwan is another concrete action demonstrating the high regard and bipartisan support of the US administration and Congress for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung has expressed his appreciation for the supportive comments by the US government and Secretary Blinken.
This the 19th arms sale to Taiwan announced during the Biden administration. It continues the US policy of normalized weapons sales to Taiwan, underscores the United States’ staunch commitment to and support for bolstering Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities and resilience, and ensures that Taiwan has adequate and reliable defense capacity to respond to China’s military and gray-zone coercion. MOFA reiterates that in the face of China’s threats, Taiwan will fulfill its responsibility to protect its homeland and will continue to demonstrate its determination to defend itself. Through arms purchases from the United States, national defense reforms, enhancement of whole-of-society defense resilience, and other means, Taiwan will bolster its comprehensive defense capabilities and resilience, leverage its strengths to ensure peace, and deepen its close security partnership with the United States. MOFA welcomes further concrete actions by the United States and like-minded partners to advance peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific. (E)