On Monday, a trade group head and sources told Bloomberg News that Taiwan would buy 400 U.S. land-launched Harpoon missiles to counter China’s growing threat.
On April 7, the Pentagon announced a $1.17 billion order to produce 400 anti-ship missiles by March 2029. Bloomberg said Taiwan bought.
The Pentagon declared, “The United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”
Taiwan plans to procure land-based Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missiles in 2020 to modernize its military.
In response to the news report, Taiwan Defence Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang told a regular media conference that the ministry had already published details on the purchase and was “confident” the deal would proceed.
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, head of the US-Taiwan Business Council, told Bloomberg that the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command’s contract with Boeing (BA.N) would give Taiwan its first mobile, land-launched version. It was previously bought and ship-launched.
Boeing deferred to the Pentagon.
In response to growing Chinese threats, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy welcomed Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California this month and urged faster arms supply.
After the discussion, Republican House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party chairman Mike Gallagher said he wanted to find ways to get Harpoon missiles to Taiwan before Saudi Arabia.
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