USA – On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced new arms packages for Taiwan totaling over $11 billion.

The sales approved by the State Department include an over $4 billion sale of 60 M107A7 Self-Propelled Howitzers and related equipment, 82 M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, 420 Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, more than $1 billion in ALTIUS tube-launched loitering drone munitions and $353 million in TOW missiles.

A more than $1 billion purchase of what is called a Tactical Mission Network, which provides communications for military groups, as well as associated software, equipment and services, was also approved.

Over $375 million in Javelin missile sales was also greenlit, as was a $91.4 million sale of Harpoon missile repair support, and related equipment, and a $96 million sale of AH-1W SuperCobra helicopter spare and repair parts and related equipment.

Each of the potential sales was separately noted by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which announces major arms sales.

The notifications set off a 30-day legislative review period in which Congress can pass a joint resolution disapproving the sale, but it has never been able to successfully block a transaction, according to the Congressional Research Service.

China Vows Resolute & Forceful Measures

China on Thursday warned that massive arms sales to Taiwan from the US President Donald Trump’s administration “undermine peace and stability,” and vowed to take “resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its national sovereignty.”

This came after the Trump administration announced on Wednesday eight new arms packages for Taiwan totaling well over $11 billion.

The sales package “seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, gravely infringes upon China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, severely undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and sends a seriously wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a news conference, according to the state-run Global Times.

Beijing “firmly opposes and strongly condemns this,” and “will take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity,” Guo added.

Buying weapons “will not save the doomed fate of ‘Taiwan independence’; it will only accelerate pushing the Taiwan Straits toward heightened military danger and the risk of war,” he added.

“No one should underestimate the firm resolve and strong capability of the Chinese government and the Chinese people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Guo said, urging Washington to “immediately stop the dangerous act of arming Taiwan.”