Taiwan soothed by US arms sales support after Panama picks Beijing over Taipei

Taiwan has welcomed calls by lawmakers in the United States for the Trump administration to speed up arms sales to the island.

The calls came after the central American nation Panama announced this week that it was switching ties from Taipei to Beijing, dealing a political blow to the island.

The Taiwanese authorities, including the foreign ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council, have expressed appreciation for the call for speedier arms sales made by members of the US House of Representatives during a meeting on US-Taiwan ties. They see it as a timely boost as Beijing tries to woo away the island’s allies.

But analysts said the gesture of support and recent remarks by the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis were more aimed at boosting confidence levels in Taiwan rather than signalling concrete measures to help the island.

Ed Royce, the chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the hearing in Washington on Thursday: “I remain concerned about successive administrations’ delays in arms sales notification for Taiwan, which have needlessly dragged out the arms sales process.”

Royce said he hoped to see regular notifications in the future and looked forward to the announcement of new sales this year.