US approves potential sale of Volcano anti-tank systems to Taiwan for US$180 million
- Pentagon says State Department agrees to possible deal to send island Volcano anti-tank mine-laying systems
- Sale will help boost the island’s asymmetric warfare capacity to make its forces more agile, according to Taiwanese defence ministry
Northrop Grumman and Oshkosh Corporation are the prime contractors for the potential sale.
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United States law requires the executive branch to notify Congress of potential arms sales over a certain amount. But these notifications are not usually made unless lawmakers have given the State Department and Pentagon informal approval to move ahead.
The potential deal comes as Beijing ramps up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan to assert its sovereignty claims, including almost daily air force missions near the island over the past three years.
The ministry said the “Chinese Communist Party’s frequent military activities near Taiwan” had posed severe military threats to the island, adding that continuous US military sales were the “cornerstone of maintaining regional stability and peace”.
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The US is Taiwan’s strongest international backer and its main source of arms, which angers Beijing.
Mainland China and Taiwan split in 1949 at the end of a civil war when the Kuomintang was defeated by Communist Party forces and fled to Taipei.
Beijing sees the island as part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to take control of it. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Washington, however, opposes any attempt to take the island by force.
