The US State Department has approved the sale of an anti-tank mine-laying system to Taiwan amid the rising military threat from China.
The department on Wednesday said the Volcano system and all related equipment would cost an estimated USD 180 million. It's capable of scattering anti-tank and anti-personnel mines from either a ground vehicle or helicopter, the type of weapon some experts believe Taiwan needs more of to dissuade or repel a potential Chinese invasion.
Chinese aggression over Taiwan
To advertise that threat, China's military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the self-ruled island it claims is its own territory, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said on Monday.
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China's military harassment of Taiwan has intensified in recent years, along with rhetoric from top leaders that the island has no choice but to accept eventual Chinese rule. The island nation has seen the ruling Communist Party's increasingly powerful military wing, the People's Liberation Army, send planes or ships towards it on a near-daily basis.
Between 6 am on Sunday and 6 am on Monday, 47 of the Chinese planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to the Defence Ministry. That came after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a US annual defence spending bill in what has come to be a standard Chinese practice.
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US' symbolic support to Taiwan's sovereignity
China conducted large-scale live-fire military exercises in August in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Beijing views visits from foreign governments to the island as de facto recognition of Taiwan as independent and a challenge to China's claim of sovereignty.
While Washington has only unofficial ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, those include robust defense exchanges and military sales.
In its announcement, the State Department said the Volcano sale “serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient's continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability".
It said Taiwan would have “no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces", and that the sale would “not alter the basic military balance in the region".
Analysts differ over what Taiwan's defense priorities should be, with some calling for big-ticket items such as advanced fighter jets. Others argue for a more flexible force, heavily armed with land-based missile systems to target enemy ships, planes and landing craft. China's overwhelming numerical advantage in personnel and equipment give Taiwan little choice but to opt for that more “asymmetric" approach, they say.
(With inputs from AP)
