Waking the Dragon: US Arms Sales to Taiwan Bound to Spark a Backlash From China
SputnikNews.com
20.06.2017
US lawmakers have recently called on the Trump administration to speed up arms sales to Taiwan as tensions between the self-governing island and mainland China continue to escalate. While the move has been welcomed by the Taiwanese authorities, Russian political analyst Andrei Karneev told Sputnik it will definitely spark a backlash from China.
On Thursday, the lawmakers in the United States called for the Trump administration to speed up the arms sales to Taiwan. The calls came after the Central American nation Panama announced that it was switching ties from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, to Beijing and amid the escalated tensions between Taiwan and the mainland China.
“I remain concerned about successive administrations’ delays in arms sales notification for Taiwan, which have needlessly dragged out the arms sales process,” Ed Royce, the chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the hearing in Washington on Thursday.
Royce said he hoped to see regular notifications in the future and looked forward to the announcement of new sales this year.
The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council have both expressed gratitude to American leaders who have been pushing for the arms deal.
US officials told Reuters in March that President Donald Trump was orchestrating a major arms sale to Taiwan, including advanced rocket systems and anti-ship missiles. It may exceed the $1.8 billion deal former President Barack Obama inked with Taiwanese leadership in December 2015.
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