U.S. pushes for 'largest-ever' weapons sale to Taiwan worth 16 trillion won

HIMARS·suicide drones·anti-tank missiles included

Second arms sale to Taiwan announced during Trump's second term

The Donald Trump administration is pushing for the largest-ever arms sale to Taiwan, including HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), suicide drones, and anti-tank missiles.

According to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 18th, the U.S. government notified Congress that it plans to sell a total of $11,105,400,000 (about 16.4 trillion won) worth of weapons to Taiwan.

The items for sale include the multiple-launch rocket system HIMARS, which has been used in the Ukraine war, the M107A7 self-propelled gun, attack suicide unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) Altius-700M and Altius-600, and anti-tank missiles Javelin and TOW.

Also included in the package were follow-on support such as tactical mission network software, spare and maintenance parts for AH-1W attack helicopters, and maintenance for Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Reuters reported that this sale is the largest-ever U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described it as "the second arms sale to Taiwan announced during the second term of the Trump administration," and said it "once again shows that the United States is cooperating to ensure Taiwan maintains sufficient defense capabilities and builds strong deterrence."

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said, "This is the United States concretely implementing in action that it values Taiwan's strategic position in the new National Security Strategy (NSS) and 'deterring conflict in the Taiwan Strait by strengthening military capabilities.'"

Reporter Im Da-yeon allopen@hankyung.com