Taiwan Stocks Up on US Weapons Helping Ukraine Thwart Russia

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(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan is stockpiling US-made weaponry that Ukraine has used to hold off Russia’s military, a sign Taipei is applying lessons from the conflict to deter China from following through on threats to take the island by force if necessary.

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An order for Javelin anti-tank missiles has entered the production and delivery phase, Taiwan Army Chief of Staff Chang Yuan-shiun said Wednesday at briefing in the capital. “The program is being implemented as planned,” he said.

Chang added that “there is a combined management and planning effort by Taiwan and the United States to make sure that the system is delivered on time” but didn’t offer a date.

Taiwan’s military also plans to increase its order of HIMARS long-range artillery weaponry to 29 from the 11 it had planned, according to the semi-official Central News Agency, which cited a defense budget report. That order, which also included some 860 precision rockets for the HIMARS, is scheduled for 2027 delivery.

US and NATO officials have credited Javelins and other anti-armor systems as key to staving off a quick Russian victory in the early days of the war. Ukrainian forces have used the HIMARS artillery to hit Russian supply lines and ammunition stores behind the front with increasing effectiveness.

Taiwan already has Javelin systems but not the HIMARS. Still, the move upset China, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian saying at press briefing in Beijing that any effort by officials from President Tsai Ing-wen’s Democratic Progressive Party “to solicit US support for independence is doomed to fail.”

On Tuesday, Beijing called on the US to stop arms sales and military contact with the island after reports the Biden administration was preparing to sell it $1.1 billion in other missiles and radar support.

See: Biden Administration Preps $1.1 Billion Arms Sale to Taiwan

Tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and met Tsai this month. China responded by holding unprecedented military exercises around the island and firing missiles over it. On Wednesday, Taiwan fired warning shots and signal flares at three civilian drones around the offshore islands of Dadan, Caoyu and Lieyu areas, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said. The drones flew away toward the Chinese city of Xiamen.

Since Pelosi’s visit, the US has seen “a clear attempt by the Chinese to permanently alter the status quo in and around Taiwan and to set a new normal for their activity and behaviors,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing Wednesday.

“We’re not going to recognize it, we’re not going to abide by it, we’re not going to stop raising our concerns over it,” Kirby said. “There’s no reason for the temperature to get dialed up.”

China’s military has reduced its activities and threats following those drills, but they still remain, Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said at the same briefing as Chang. The actions of the People’s Liberation Army harm the bond between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, he added.

(Updates with Taiwan detecting drones, US comment starting in eighth paragraph)

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