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Taiwan signals arms buildup in attempt to impress Trump

November 11, 2024
Willis Sparks
​Taiwan's then-Vice President William Lai at a news conference in Taipei, in January 2023.

Taiwan's then-Vice President William Lai at a news conference in Taipei, in January 2023.

Jameson Wu/EYEPRESS via Reuters
Taiwan’s leaders know that President-elect Donald Trump expects US allies to act as clients, not dependents. Why, Trump has frequently argued, should US taxpayers bankroll another country’s defense if its own government, and its neighboring allies, aren’t paying their fair share? For Taiwan’s government, that means making clear to Trump as early as possible that it intends to invest heavily in the country’s security.

Less than a week after Trump’s US election victory, Taiwanese officials have publicly floated a plan to spend billions on US-made weapons and weapons systems, including F-35 fighter jets, retired US warships, an airborne radar defense system, and hundreds of Patriot missiles. The goal is to persuade China that an invasion of the island would come at an unacceptably high military, material, and political cost for Beijing.

Trump is widely expected to again turn up the heat in US relations with China, particularly on trade issues, right after his inauguration in January. Officials in the government of Taiwanese President William Lai hope that Trump will find arms sales to their country useful as a way of maximizing pressure on Beijing. And even if US-China relations eventually improve, Taiwan will have already upgraded its defense capabilities.

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