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Old 07-09-2019, 05:38 AM
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Exclamation US State Department Approves Taiwan's Bid to Buy Military Equipment

US State Department Approves Taiwan's Bid to Buy Military Equipment
By: VOA News 7-9-19
RE: https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-state...tary-equipment

Photo link: https://media.voltron.voanews.com/Dr...?itok=7zkPiTZa
M1-A2SEP Abrams tanks participating in a platoon qualifying exercise near the DMZ. (Photo: VOA / Steve Herman)

- The U.S. State Department has approved a request by Taiwan to purchase an estimated $2.2 billion worth of military equipment.

The deal, announced Monday by the Defense Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, includes 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, 250 Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and over 1,500 anti-tank missiles. The agency said the package would not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The potential deal will likely anger China, Taiwan's bitter cross-Strait rival. The two sides split after the 1949 civil war when Chaing Kai-shek's Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedong's Communists and sought refuge on Taiwan. But Beijing considers the self-ruled island part of its territory and has vowed to take control of it, by force if necessary.

The U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, but U.S. presidents are bound by law to supply it with arms and come to its defense.

The agreement also comes amid the Trump administration's ongoing trade dispute with Beijing, with the two nations exchanging back-and-forth tariffs on each other's goods since last year.

Relations between Beijing and Taipei have been strained since President Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, took office in 2016 and refused to accept the concept of China and Taiwan joined together as "one China."

Beijing has since mounted an aggressive posture toward Taipei, such as carrying out military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, blocking Taipei's participation in international organizations, and persuading several nations to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China.

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Personal note: China is not happy with this sale!

Subj: China urges US to ‘immediately cancel’ arms sale to Taiwan
By: The Straits Times
Re: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/u...sale-to-taiwan

BEIJING (AFP) - China urged Washington on Tuesday (July 9) to “immediately cancel” the potential sale of US$2.2 billion (S$3 billion) in weapons to Taiwan, including battle tanks and anti-aircraft missiles.

The US State Department’s decision to greenlight the first big-ticket US military sale to the self-ruled democratic island in decades comes amid already strained ties between Washington and Beijing.

“The sale of weapons by the United States to Taiwan... seriously violates the one-China principle... grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

Mr Geng said that China has already lodged formal complaints through diplomatic channels expressing “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the move.

“China urges the US to... immediately cancel the planned arms sale and stop military relations with Taipei to avoid damaging Sino-US relations and harming peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Geng said.

According to the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) the deal includes 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, 250 Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles and related equipment and support.

Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers it a part of its territory to be retaken – by force if necessary.

China has significantly stepped up diplomatic and military pressure on Taipei since the election in 2016 of President Tsai Ing-wen, whose Democratic Progressive Party refuses to acknowledge that the island is part of “One China”.

It has also staged military exercises near the island, and steadily reduced the already small number of nations that recognise Taiwan.

The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, but has remained an important ally – and arms supplier – to Taipei. Laws passed that year by Congress required Washington to provide the island with means of self-defence.

But it has been wary of big-ticket military equipment sales to Taiwan in recent years, fearful of stoking anger in Beijing.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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