MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2023) The United States will provide Taiwan with domestically developed Stinger portable air defense systems and Javelin mid-range anti-tank missiles, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Friday, citing a source in the Taiwanese Defense Ministry.
The package of free weapons, which will include Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles, TOW 2B Aero anti-tank missiles and new Javelin mid-range anti-armor missiles, could boost the island's asymmetric capabilities, the source said.
Last week, Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that Washington would provide additional weapons to the island free of charge and that they would not be deducted from the list of weapons whose delivery to the island has been delayed, the newspaper said.
Earlier in May, the minister said the delivery date of 66 US F-16V fighter jets to Taiwan had been extended from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024. At the same time, he noted that all of the jets would be delivered before the end of 2026 as planned.
On April 18, China banned its businessmen from doing business with US defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Missiles & Defense for supplying arms to Taiwan. Earlier in the year, Beijing placed Lockheed Martin on a list of untrustworthy companies.
Tensions over Taiwan soared last August after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taipei despite Beijing's warnings against the visit. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it saw as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military drills in the vicinity of the island.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan � a territory with its own elected government � maintains that it is an autonomous country. However, it stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the two sides have maintained contact through non-governmental organizations.
