Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan is negotiating a new weapon agreement worth billions of dollars with the United States, the Reuters News Agency reported, citing unidentified sources.
Meanwhile, the best American military commander of Indo-Pacific, Admiral Samuel Paparo, warned that the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan were in fact “rehearsals” for an attack on the island.
Three sources familiar with the situation, which wanted to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters that Taipei was “in talks with Washington” of a weapon purchase worth $ 7 billion and US dollars and of 10 billion US dollars and that the package could include cruise missiles on coastal defense and artillery rocket systems with high mobility, or Himars.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense refused to confirm the news, but said Taipei was determined to strengthen national defense.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Sun Li-Fang, told journalists in Taipei that all defense budgets followed government policy and that the plans would be disclosed to the public when they were finalized.
There was also no confirmation of Washington.
There is still a great backlog of arms sales of the United States in Taiwan. According to the Cato Institute’s reflection group, the backlog is valued at $ 21.95 billion, mainly traditional weapons such as tanks and planes.
At the Munich annual security conference on Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Takeshi Iwaya and the South Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-Yul “stressed the importance of Maintain peace and stability through the Taiwan Strait as an essential element of security and prosperity for the international community, “they said in a joint declaration.
They declared that their country argued Taiwan’s “significant participation” in appropriate international organizations and encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross -questions and “opposed any attempt to force or compensate changes to the status quo”.
Related stories
China condemns American ships to Taiwan Transit, leads exercises
Taiwan to increase the annual military exercise as the tensions of China ride
China repeats attacks
The high commander of the American Indo-Pacific Command warned in a security forum in Hawaii last week that the increased military activity of China around Taiwan was not exercises but “repetitions for forced unification from Taiwan to the continent ”.
“We are very close to that [point] Where daily, the figurine sheet of an exercise could very well mask an operational warning, “said Admiral Samuel Paparo.
The Liberation Army of the Chinese people, or PLA, has carried out regular military exercises around Taiwan, in particular with regard to increased tensions on the island such as the main political events or during visits to senior American officials.
Between January 28 and February 12, the Command of the Oriental Theater of the APL held combat patrols with planes and warships around Taiwan, at the same time as the destructive of the US Navy Uss Ralph Johnson and The Usns Bowditch oceanographic survey made a north in USS USS Passage through the Taiwan Strait.
Paparo said the United States had to move quickly to fill the gaps in military capacity with China.
“Our magazines are low. Our maintenance arrears are developing longer each month … We operate on increasingly thin margins for error, “he said, calling for reforms of the Pentagon supply system.
The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense, on the other hand, said that the island’s army “will continue to work hard to build the army and prepare for war, and improve the asymmetrical deterrent”.
The ministry declared in a press release to the media that it “would use the joint intelligence, surveillance and recognition methods to closely monitor the dynamics of maritime space and airspace around the Taiwan Strait, and sends Appropriate troops to respond, and have the capacity, determination and confidence to ensure the security of national defense. »»
Edited by Mike Firn.