By AFP and Li Hsien-chih | 2025-11-14

The United States has approved a $330 million sale of aircraft parts and equipment in its first military sale to Taiwan since the present US administration took office in January, the island's Foreign Ministry said November 14.

While the United States does not recognize Taiwan's claim to independence, Washington is Taipei's biggest arms supplier and a key deterrent to China potentially launching an attack on the democratic island.

Beijing claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

"This marks the first time the new ... administration has announced an arms sale to Taiwan," the Foreign Ministry said, after the US State Department approved the package.

Taiwan requested "non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and return support for F-16, C-130 and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft," a statement posted by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

The sale, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry, will help sustain "combat readiness" and "enhance defensive resilience" in the face of China's near-daily "gray-zone" operations around the island.

China's Foreign Ministry said it "firmly opposed" Washington's approval of the sale, which comes about two weeks after US President Donald Trump held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

The deal continues a shift that began in Trump's first term (2017-2021), when Washington moved from "bundled" reviews of arms sales to Taiwan toward a case-by-case model similar to procedures used for NATO countries, Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said.

The new sale eases doubts over US commitment to the island's security, he told Taiwan's Central News Agency.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's government has vowed to ramp up defense spending as China maintains military pressure around the island. While Taiwan has its own defense industry, the island's military would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China and remains reliant on US arms.

Action in US Congress

The latest sale comes after a series of congressional moves in October aimed at tightening security ties with Taipei. None of the bills has become law yet.

In its annual National Defense Authorization Act, the US Senate "strongly encouraged" Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to invite Taiwan to join the Rim of the Pacific naval exercises. It supports joint development and production of unmanned systems with the island.

At a November 11 forum hosted by the Atlantic Council, US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee vice chairman Adam Smith said that inviting Taiwan to the drills would convey the commitment of the United States and other countries to help defend it and would discourage China from attacking Taiwan, the Taipei Times reported.

Also in October, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations cleared a package of measures that included four Taiwan-related bills. The centerpiece, the PORCUPINE Act, would shorten lengthy procedures for selling arms to Taiwan and would treat the island like a NATO ally during such sales.

Specifically, the bill would require the administration to notify Congress 15 days in advance of arms sales to Taiwan exceeding $25 million. Presently, the requirements are 30 days and a threshold of $14 million.

It would also make it easier for NATO and NATO Plus partners to transfer US-made military hardware to Taiwan, potentially speeding deliveries of precision-guided munitions, antiship missiles and other high-priority systems.

Asymmetric warfare the key

The PORCUPINE Act's logic dovetails with Taiwan's shift toward an asymmetric "porcupine" posture, supporters say, one that avoids trying to match China in heavy weaponry.

Military analysts Kenneth Fann and Charles Bursi wrote in 2023, "In the military sense, this analogy helps visualize what the mountain-island of Taiwan looks like bristling with low-tech and mobile anti-aircraft, anti-tank and anti-ship weapons."

Other Taiwan-focused bills are narrower in scope: the Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act is intended to ensure Washington can move quickly to hit key parts of China's economy with sanctions if Beijing uses force against Taiwan.

The United States–Taiwan Partnership in the Americas Act would support Latin American and Caribbean countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei. The Taiwan International Solidarity Act would require the United States to push back against Beijing's efforts to undermine Taiwan in international organizations.