Advertisement
Taiwan and US working on ‘solutions’ to reported delays in arms shipments to the island
- Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 pandemic have created ‘certain problems’ for US arms sales, Taipei says
- Washington says arms sales to allies and partners are ‘a balancing act’
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
5
Lawrence Chungin Taipei
Taiwan on Tuesday said it will work closely with the United States to deal with any issues arising from reported delays in arms sales to the self-ruled island.
The island’s defence ministry acknowledged that the Russia-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic have had an impact on the progress of arms sales to Taiwan.
“Regarding the arms sales operation process, Taiwan and the US have an effective mechanism to deal with the delay in the sales and how it could be remedied,” ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said at a news conference in Taipei.
Advertisement
His remarks were made in response to reports that shipments of US weapons to Ukraine were worsening a US$19 billion backlog of weapons bound for the island.
Since the Russian invasion began in February, the US has shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment to Ukraine, taxing the capacity of the government and the defence industry to meet Kyiv’s arms requests, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Advertisement
The flow of weapons to Ukraine is now conflicting with Washington’s longer-term strategy to help the island defend itself against a possible attack by mainland China, the report said, citing unnamed congressional and government officials familiar with the matter.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x