US unveils $1bn weapons package for Taiwan

The US plans to sell Taiwan $1.1bn in weapons, including 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as Washington steps up efforts to bolster the country’s defences as it comes under increasing military pressure from China.

The Biden administration on Friday notified Congress about the proposed sale, which includes 100 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in addition to equipment and support for a surveillance radar programme.

The notification marks the first American arms package since the Chinese military significantly increased pressure on Taiwan following the visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island last month.

China responded to her visit by firing missiles over Taiwan into waters east of the island, including some that landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Laura Rosenberger, the top White House official for China and Taiwan, said the administration had been preparing the package for some time because it had expected China would continue to increase pressure on Taiwan.

The package is the fifth, and largest, that the administration has put forward. Rosenberger said it included “critical asymmetric defensive capabilities”.

“As the People’s Republic of China continues to increase pressure on Taiwan — including through heightened military air and maritime presence around Taiwan — and engages in attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, we’re providing Taiwan with what it needs to maintain its self-defence capabilities,” Rosenberger said.

Since conducting a week-long exercise that was unprecedented in scale after Pelosi’s visit, China has continued to undertake higher levels of military activity around Taiwan compared to before her trip.

US officials have said China is trying to create a “new normal” around the island. China is increasingly sending warplanes across the median line in the Taiwan Strait that previously served as a buffer.

Liu Pengyu, the Chinese embassy spokesman, said China would take “legitimate and necessary countermeasures” to respond to the arms sale.

Tension over Taiwan had already been climbing over the past couple of years, as the People’s Liberation Army sent increasing numbers of fighter jets, bombers and other warplanes into Taiwan’s “air defence identification zone”.

China accuses the US of diluting the “One China” policy which has been in place since the nations normalised relations in 1979. Under the policy, the US recognises Beijing as the sole government of China but only acknowledges, without endorsing, its position that Taiwan is part of China.

The White House has denied that the “One China” policy has changed and repeatedly told China that it had no control over the visit since Congress is an independent branch of the US government.

Underscoring the rising tension, during a visit to Tokyo this year, Biden warned China that the US military would intervene to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack.

In a sign that Taipei is starting to respond more assertively to Chinese activity, Taiwan on Thursday for the first time shot down a drone flying over one of its outlying islands. The move came two days after Taiwan targeted another Chinese drone that flew away in the direction of Xiamen, a Chinese city very close to the Taiwanese-controlled island of Kinmen.

Pelosi’s visit came at a sensitive time for President Xi Jinping who is expected to receive an unprecedented third term as leader when the Chinese Communist party holds its 20th party congress next month.

The US and China are in negotiations to try to arrange the first in-person meeting between Xi and Biden when the two leaders attend the G20 summit in Indonesia in November.

Follow Demetri Sevastopulo on Twitter