BEIJING — China on Wednesday blasted the latest US military assistance package for Taiwan, saying such funding was pushing the self-ruled island republic into a “dangerous situation”.
The US Senate passed $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Tuesday evening, after months of delays and contentious debate over US involvement in foreign wars. The package included $8 billion for Taiwan, intended to counter the threat of invasion by China, which claims the entire island as its own territory and has threatened to take it by force if necessary.
The Chinese mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the aid “severely violates” U.S. commitments to China and “sends a wrong signal to Taiwan’s pro-independence separatist forces.”
Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian added that Taiwan’s ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, which won a third four-year presidential term in January, is ready to “become a pawn for outside forces to use Taiwan.” to contain China, putting Taiwan in a dangerous situation.” .”
On Tuesday, Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that the aid package would “strengthen deterrence against authoritarianism in the Western Pacific chain of allies” and “contribute to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and would also enhance confidence.” In the region.”
The package has enjoyed broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer. But congressional leaders have faced strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question U.S. involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should instead focus on rising migration on the border between the United States and Mexico.
The package covers a wide range of parts and services intended to maintain and modernize Taiwanese military equipment. Separately, Taiwan signed multibillion-dollar contracts with the United States for the latest generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the United States has also supplied to Ukraine.
Taiwan has also developed its own defense industry, building submarines and training aircraft. Next month, it plans to field its third and fourth domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy as part of an asymmetric warfare strategy, in which a smaller force counters its larger adversary by using advanced or unconventional tactics and weapons. .
China launches daily incursions into the waters and airspace around Taiwan by warships and warplanes. He also sought to eliminate Taiwan’s few remaining official diplomatic partners.
However, only two People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft and seven navy ships were found operating in areas around Taiwan between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, likely due to Heavy rain and low visibility overnight along the west coast of the island facing China.
At times of heightened tensions, China has launched dozens of such missions over a 24-hour period, many of them crossing the midline of the Taiwan Strait separating the sides or entering the Taiwan Identification Zone. air defense of Taiwan.
ABC News
