US Approves $228 Million Possible Military Sale of Spare Parts to Taiwan

Taiwanese sailors salute the island's flag on the deck of the Panshih supply ship after taking part in annual drills, at the Tsoying naval base in Kaohsiung on January 31, 2018. MANDY CHENG/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. State Department has approved Taiwan’s request to buy up to $228 million of military equipment parts and related services, the Pentagon said on Sept. 16.

The proposed sale can help sustain Taiwan’s defense capabilities, maintain “political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” and serve “U.S. national, economic, and security interests,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.

The agency said it had notified Congress of the possible sale on Sept. 16.

While the United States does not have an official relationship with Taiwan, it’s the major arms provider to Taiwan, so the self-ruled island can maintain credible deterrence to a potential conflict with communist-ruled mainland China.

According to the DSCA, the latest sales proposal includes the return, repair, and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment, U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support.

The equipment will come from U.S. government stock, and the value of the final shipment is expected to be lower than the $228 million estimate based on Taiwan’s initial request.

The DSCA said Taiwan will have no difficulty absorbing the equipment into its armed forces and that the proposed sale will help Taiwan maintain a “credible defensive capability” while maintaining the basic military balance in the region.

It also said the proposed sale would not negatively impact U.S. defense readiness.

In a statement published on Sept. 17, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the deal could take effect as early as next month.

The MND thanked the United States and said the sale would help maintain Taiwan’s military aircraft.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s routine gray-zone intrusions have compressed the training space and response time in our maritime and air spaces,” the MND said, adding that U.S. assistance in maintaining self-defense capabilities in Taiwan is “the basis for maintaining regional stability.”

Taiwan is the major manufacturer of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. It’s part of the first island chain in a U.S. maritime strategy to contain Russia and China.

In recent years, Beijing has significantly increased its military spending while ramping up its activities in the South China Sea, including in the Taiwan Strait, raising concerns over whether it is seeking to change the status quo by military means.

According to a Sept. 16 blog published by the Department of Defense, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said China’s neighbors in the region have been increasingly concerned over the regime’s growing capabilities and intentions, such as its more extensive and more sophisticated exercises tailored for an invasion and blockade of Taiwan.

The secretary said he does not predict an “imminent or inevitable” war in the theater but that the United States “must be ready” to prevent conflict.

In June, in addition to several regular sales of F-16 parts, drones, and other equipment, the United States, for the first time, used the Presidential Drawdown Authority—a presidential power that has been used to make speedy foreign military donations to Ukraine—to authorize $345 million of military aid for Taiwan.

While the government has assured that support for Ukraine and Israel has not distracted its focus on the Indo-Pacific, there have also been concerns that the wars in Europe and the Middle East may have hampered the speed of clearing the backlog of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which sat at $20.5 billion by the end of July, according to an estimate by the Cato Institute.

Terri Wu contributed to this report.