Taiwan Prepares For Potential China Invasion, Set To Purchase 400 U.S. Land-Launched Missiles: Report

In order to defend its coastal regions from a potential Chinese invasion, Taiwan will buy about 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles made by Boeing, the world’s’s largest manufacturer of aircraft.

The agreement with Boeing on behalf of Taiwan by the US Naval Air Systems Command marks the first time the beach may have purchased land-launched variations of the missile, according to Rupert Hammond-Chammers, president of US-Taiwan Business Council, who spoke with Bloomberg. Taiwan has hitherto purchased Harpoon weapons from Boeing that are ship-launched.

The pending contract was approved by Congress in 2020. A$ 1.7 billion agreements with Boeing was revealed earlier this month by Pentagon officials. Taiwan was not named as the consumer in the contract, though.

Defense Department official Army Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners said,” We will continue to work with business to include Taiwan protection equipment in a timely manner ,” but he declined to say whether Taiwan is the buyer.

According to Meiners,” Taiwan’s’s protection depends on the United States’ provision to Taiwan of defence studies, which includes sustainment to existing abilities via Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales.”

The Communist Party of China, which considers the democratic island of Taiwan to be its place, has threatened to put pressure on the island and remove it on a global scale. After U.S. lawmakers met with Taiwanese officials, tensions between the two countries grew, prompting Chinese officials to carry military exercises there.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy( R-CA ) earlier this month in California, defying threats from China, along with dozens of other lawmakers, including the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

The House speaker asserted that he thinks U.S. – Tai relations are at an all-time high during a joint press conference. McCarthy criticized authoritarian rulers for inciting needless issues with murder and fear, despite the fact that conflicts have reached their highest point since the end of the Cold War.

McCarthy stated that he has no plans to exacerbate conflicts with China. He did, however, call for the continuation of arms business to Taiwan, enhancing economic ties, and advancing shared values with the beach.

The country opposes President Tsai’s’s” transit” into the United States or any official trade between the two nations, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, as doing so would” certainly violate” the one-China principle.

China may take decisive and violent measures to protect federal sovereignty and territorial integrity in response to the truly wrong actions of the US-Taiwan collusion, the spokesperson stated in a news release.

Despite Chinese officials’ warnings against her trip abroad, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi( D-CA) traveled to Taiwan last summer.

Pelosi’s’s visit to the island that China considers to be its sovereign territory was viewed by China as a huge insult, with her actions being” vicious and provocative.” Sometimes the Biden administration, which explicitly stated that Taiwan is not active, expressed dissatisfaction.

According to Bloomberg, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a number of” table army games” using Harpoon weapons that were launched from the ground.

These weapons were highly effective against Chinese invasion causes due to their mobility and ability to span the whole sea, according to researcher Mark Cancian who oversaw the exercises. Additionally, they lessened the requirement for American troops to be stationed on the island. 400, though, is not nearly enough. The Taiwanese require a lot more.

The MK-48 missile, the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled mortar, and the Stinger projectile are also included in the agreement, according to the store.

During a reading on the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services could talk about the Harpoon price on Tuesday.