Taiwan to buy 400 US anti-ship missiles to face China menace

By Reuters: Taiwan will buy as many as 400 U.S. land-launched Harpoon missiles throughout the face of a rising menace from China, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a commerce group’s chief and folk conversant within the problem.

The Pentagon launched a $1.17 billion contract for 400 of the anti-ship missiles on April 7 with out naming the client, saying manufacturing was anticipated to be achieved by March 2029. Bloomberg said Taiwan was the client.

The Pentagon declined to comment instantly on the deal, nonetheless said: “the United States makes available to Taiwan defense articles and services necessary to enable it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

In 2020, Taiwan said it deliberate to buy land-based Boeing-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles as part of its navy modernization efforts.

When requested regarding the info report, Taiwan Defence Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang knowledgeable an on a regular basis media conference the ministry had beforehand disclosed particulars in regards to the acquisition, together with it was “confident” the deal would proceed in response to schedule.

A contract with Boeing BA.N that the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command issued on Taiwan’s behalf marks the first time it will get the cell, land-launched mannequin, the Bloomberg report said, citing Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council. It had beforehand purchased the ship-launched mannequin.

Boeing referred inquiries to the Pentagon.

This month, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California and pressured the need to hurry up arms deliveries to Taiwan throughout the face of rising threats from China.

After the meeting, Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said he want to seek for strategies to get Harpoon missiles to Taiwan ahead of those scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia.