TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an “ammunition depot” after the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taipei, and the self-ruled island said Sunday it tracked six Chinese navy ships in waters off its shores.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement late Saturday opposing the military aid to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
“No matter how much of the ordinary people’s taxpayer money the … Taiwanese separatist forces spend, no matter how many U.S. weapons, it will not shake our resolve to solve the Taiwan problem. Or shake our firm will to realize the reunification of our motherland,” said Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office.
“Their actions are turning Taiwan into a powder keg and ammunition depot, aggravating the threat of war in the Taiwan Strait,” the statement said.
China’s People’s Liberation Army has increased its military maneuvers in recent years aimed at Taiwan, sending fighter jets and warships to circle the island.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it tracked six Chinese navy ships near the island.
Taiwan’s ruling administration, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, has stepped up its weapons purchases from the U.S. as part of a deterrence strategy against a Chinese invasion.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and Taiwan has never been governed by China’s ruling Communist Party.
Unlike previous military purchases, the latest batch of aid is part of a presidential authority approved by the U.S. Congress last year to draw weapons from current U.S. military stockpiles — so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales.
While Taiwan has purchased $19 billion worth of weaponry, much of it has yet to be delivered to Taiwan. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles to Taiwan.
It’s not America’s job to intervene in a civil war in East Asia. I’m not sure how it doing so could be seen as anything but provocative.
The vast majority of American microchips are made in Taiwan at TSMC, if the people’s republic of china controlled this it would be devastating for the US and most western countries as china would have complete control over military chip production and likely would have access to American military secrets embedded in microchips produced there. It is of utmost importance to the entire western world that Taiwan maintains their self-government, whether or not it really is a part of china.
The fact that you call it a civil war is all we need to know.
edit: my bad, looking at your home instance would have been an even better way of immediately knowing you’re full of shit.
edit2: and yes, I am fully aware that both Taiwan and the PRC officially view themselves as the legitimate government of the whole of China but it’s pretty fucking clear that in practice they are separate countries to anyone who is not snorting red propaganda like a champ.
It actually is their job. They have several treaties from SE counties trying to avoid being abused by China that go back decades
It is because they have had a defense pact for years. So it’s very much part of its job. Taiwan is the legitimate government of China and has simply been stuck off the cost in exile for years. The US never should have normalized relations with an illegitimate government in the first place.