AP
Washington, December 29
The US State Department has approved the sale of an anti-tank mine-laying system to Taiwan amid the rising military threat from China.
The department on Wednesday said the Volcano system and all related equipment would cost an estimated USD 180 million.
It’s capable of scattering anti-tank and anti-personnel mines from either a ground vehicle or helicopter.
The announcement indicated Taiwan would be buying the vehicle-borne version, the kind of general-use weapon many experts believe Taiwan needs more of to dissuade or repel a potential Chinese invasion.
To advertise that threat, China’s military sent 71 planes and seven ships towards Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the self-ruled island it claims is its own territory, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday.
The PLA would continue to launch such missions until Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party ceases “constantly provoking confrontation and enmity between the two sides,” Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Colonel Tan Kefei said at a monthly briefing on Thursday.
“The PLA always…resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tan said.
In its announcement, the State Department said the Volcano sale “serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability.”
It said Taiwan would have “no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces,” and that the sale would “not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
Analysts differ over what Taiwan’s defence priorities should be, with some calling for big-ticket items such as advanced fighter jets.
Others argue for a more flexible force, heavily armed with land-based missile systems to target enemy ships, planes and landing craft.
China’s overwhelming numerical advantage in personnel and equipment give Taiwan little choice but to opt for that more “asymmetric” approach, they say.
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