LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Trump administration has announced it will sell more than $11 billion worth of advanced weapons to Taiwan, the self-governed island that China claims as its territory. China continues to hammer home the point with the U.S. that the Taiwan issue is a red line which foreign governments must not cross. NPR's Anthony Kuhn is following all this and joins us from Seoul. Good morning.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Hey, Leila.
FADEL: So what military hardware is the U.S. selling Taiwan?
KUHN: Well, these are all high-tech weapons, including tactical ballistic missiles, rocket artillery, howitzers, anti-tank weapons, drones and software. The U.S. government emphasizes that these weapons will not alter the military balance of power, which is clearly in China's favor.
FADEL: Yeah.
KUHN: What it's intended to do is help make Taiwan's deterrent credible, help it offset China's advantage in things like ships, tanks and planes. Now, the U.S. has not sold Taiwan so much weaponry since the George H. W. Bush administration in 1992, but that was over several deals, not just one. So this could actually be the biggest arms sale to Taiwan on record.
FADEL: OK. Now, of course, China is not happy about this. What does Beijing say?
KUHN: The foreign ministry used some of the usual rhetoric, which is to say that the arms sale harms China's sovereignty and undermines peace across the Taiwan Strait. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun had some tougher language about what he said was the U.S. arming Taiwan to resist reunification and seek independence. Here's what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GUO JIAKUN: (Non-English language spoken).
KUHN: "This will only accelerate the push toward a situation of war across the Taiwan Strait," he said, adding that the U.S.'s attempt to use Taiwan to contain China will absolutely not succeed. Now, China has conducted military exercises. It sanctioned U.S. arms makers in past, and we may see similar responses this time. President Trump had reached a sort of temporary truce in the trade war with China in late October.
FADEL: Yeah.
KUHN: Trump said he planned to visit Beijing in April. But if Beijing feels it has to enforce that red line on Taiwan, then that visit could be impacted.
FADEL: OK, that's China. How's the sale seen in Taiwan?
KUHN: Taiwan's foreign minister thanked the U.S. for supporting Taiwan's self-defense capabilities. And Taiwan's government has pledged to raise defense spending to 3.3% of GDP next year and 5% by 2030. But President Trump and the Pentagon have asked Taiwan to spend 10%. They're not anywhere near that. Polls, though, show that the Taiwanese public is not confident that the U.S. under President Trump will defend Taiwan if China attacks. And it's not clear whether this arms deal is going to help that any.
FADEL: OK, wait. So what you're saying is the U.S. is providing Taiwan more weapons to defend itself. But the U.S. may not come to Taiwan's aid if China attacks it over this sale. Is that right?
KUHN: That's correct. Or over it declaring independence.
FADEL: Right.
KUHN: You know, the latest U.S. national security strategy out this month recommends that the U.S. give its allies and partners more weapons to defend themselves. The U.S. itself is maintaining strategic ambiguity, which means they're keeping everyone guessing about how they would react in a Taiwan conflict scenario. Now, the NSS also said it wants to keep the peace in the Taiwan Strait through military superiority. But critics say they don't have that superiority against China. And ultimately, some allies and Taiwanese are unnerved by what they see as President Trump's willingness to cut a deal with authoritarian rulers while downplaying the importance of defending democracies.
FADEL: That's NPR's Anthony Kuhn joining us from Seoul, South Korea. Thank you, Anthony.
KUHN: You're welcome, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
