#Taiwan harpoon missile driver#

defense industrial base and inefficiencies in the arms sales process. More importantly, though, this narrative distracts from the most important sources of delivery delays: limitations in the U.S. First, it oversimplifies the different pathways through which Taiwan and Ukraine have received weapons up to this point and overstates the degree to which the capabilities required by each country overlap. efforts to arm Taiwan is misleading and harmful.

#Taiwan harpoon missile driver#

From this perspective, each anti-aircraft missile sent to support Ukraine is one that could have supported Taiwan’s “ porcupine strategy.” Hawley and others are right that the United States will increasingly need to prioritize when it comes to allocating constrained resources across threats from Russia and China, especially as the war in Ukraine wears on and the situation in the Taiwan Strait becomes more precarious.īut the narrative that Washington’s commitments to Ukraine are a primary driver of Taiwan’s weapons backlog or have interfered with U.S.

Underlying these concerns is the assumption that Taiwan and Ukraine are competing for the same systems and the same weapons production lines.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission similarly blamed the “diversion of existing stocks of weapons and munitions” to Ukraine for delays in delivery of promised systems to Taiwan. A November 2022 Wall Street Journal article argued that weapons transfers to Ukraine were “aggravating” Taiwan’s weapons shortfall. Hawley is not the first to link military support to Ukraine and Taiwan’s delayed arms deliveries. As evidence, he pointed to Taiwan’s nearly $19 billion weapons backlog. Josh Hawley argued that the Biden administration’s military aid to Ukraine has compromised more important efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s defenses. Senate committee this week that could significantly increase American military support for Taiwan.In a recent letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Sen. In February, China announced sanctions on Raytheon and Lockheed Martin over a $100 million deal for maintenance of Taiwan’s missile defense systems by the two companies.Ĭhina also protested a bill that was approved by a U.S. She called on the Czech lawmakers 'to refrain from sending the wrong signals to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence and to stop undermining. “China is firmly opposed to any form of official contact between Taiwan and countries having diplomatic relations with China,” Mao said. A 14-member delegation is to arrive Sunday for a six-day visit, according to Taiwan media reports. Mao also expressed China's opposition to an upcoming Taiwan trip by Czech lawmakers. does not formally recognize Taiwan under its one-China policy but is the island's main supplier of military equipment and is bound by its own laws to ensure Taiwan can defend itself. Taiwan and China split in 1949 during a civil war that brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing. stop arms sales to Taiwan and military contact with Taiwan, and stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,' Mao said at a daily briefing.Ĭhina claims Taiwan, a self-governing island of 23 million people off its east coast, as its territory and says it must eventually come under its control.

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