{"id":47610,"date":"2022-02-08T03:22:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T03:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47610"},"modified":"2022-02-08T03:22:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T03:22:57","slug":"us-approves-support-deal-for-taiwan-patriot-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47610","title":{"rendered":"US approves support deal for Taiwan patriot missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Defence support comes amid heightened tension over the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as its own.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The United States has approved a $100 million support contract with Taiwan aimed at boosting the island\u2019s missile defence systems amid heightened tensions with China.<\/p>\n

The funds would be used to \u201csustain, maintain, and improve\u201d the self-ruled island\u2019s Patriot missile defence system, the Pentagon said on Monday.<\/p>\n

A statement from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said it had delivered the required certification notifying Congress following State Department approval for the sale, which was requested by Taiwan\u2019s de facto embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n

Upgrades to the Patriot Air Defense System would \u201chelp improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, economic and progress in the region\u201d, the DSCA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient\u2019s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

China claims Taiwan as its own and has been stepping up pressure on the island ever since Tsai Ing-wen was first elected president in 2016. Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to retake the island and has made repeated air sorties<\/a> into Taiwan\u2019s air defence zone.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s foreign ministry said it \u201chighly welcomed\u201d the US decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the face of China\u2019s continued military expansion and provocative actions, our country will maintain its national security with a solid defence, and continue to deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the United States,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry has said the decision to obtain newer Patriot missiles was made during a 2019 meeting with US officials in the administration of former US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The ministry said the deal was expected to \u201ccome into effect\u201d within one month.<\/p>\n

Like most countries, the US does not have formal relations with Taiwan, but Washington is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.<\/p>\n

Tsai is working to modernise the Taiwan military to enhance its capacity for \u2018asymmetric warfare<\/a>\u2018, which is designed to make any Chinese attack more difficult and costly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence support comes amid heightened tension over the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as its own.The United States has approved a $100 million support contract with Taiwan aimed at boosting the island\u2019s missile defence systems amid heightened tensions with China. The funds would be used to \u201csustain, maintain, and improve\u201d the self-ruled island\u2019s Patriot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}