WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Friday (Saturday in Manila) announced a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, vowing to keep boosting the island's defenses as tensions soar with Beijing, which warned Washington of "counter-measures."
The sale comes a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited the self-governing democracy, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future invasion.
The package — the largest for Taiwan approved under President Joe Biden's administration — includes $665 million for contractor support to maintain and upgrade a Raytheon early radar warning system in operation since 2013 that would warn Taiwan about an incoming attack.
Taiwan will also spend $355 million on 60 Harpoon Block II missiles, which can track and sink incoming vessels if China launches an assault by water.
The deal also includes $85.6 million for more than 100 Sidewinder missiles, a mainstay of Western militaries for their air-to-air firepower.
The announcement of the sale comes one day after Taiwanese forces shot down an unidentified commercial drone amid a sudden spate of mysterious incursions that have unnerved the island following the earlier show of force by Beijing, which said it fired ballistic missiles over the capital Taipei.
China, calling Taiwan an "inalienable" part of its territory, urged the United States to "immediately revoke" the arms sales.
