Washington and Taipei are negotiating the joint production of weapons, Nikkei has reported, citing three people said to be familiar with the discussions.
The talks are said to be at the “initial discussions” stage, with the plan calling for the transfer of US military technologies to Taiwan for them to be manufactured on the island, or to build weapons in the United States using components made in Taiwan.
“This is going to take some time to really shake out,” one source told the business outlet, saying talks may continue through next year.
To date, US and Taiwanese officials and weapons manufacturers have long maintained that no coproduction of any weapons or ammunition takes place, and that US-Taiwanese cooperation in the field is limited to the sale of American weapons to the island.
The United States has sold tens of billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware to Taiwan over the decades, even though this constitutes a violation of the One-China policy governing US-China relations, and Washington’s informal ties with Taipei.
The Pentagon approved $1.1 billion in additional arms sales to Taiwan last month, with China blasting the decision and saying it “gravely undermines” the People’s Republic sovereignty and security interests, harms China-US ties and sends “a gravely wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.” Beijing also slapped sanctions on the US weapons giants expected to make a killing off the arms sales.
Also last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced controversial draft legislation dubbed the ‘Taiwan Policy Act of 2022’, with the bipartisan bill requiring Washington to provide Taipei with $4.5 billion in ‘security assistance’, and a $2 billion loan authority for additional weapons.
Despite Washington’s lavish promises, US arms deliveries to Taiwan have faced setbacks this year as the nation’s military-industrial complex pumps out tens of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment to send to Ukraine. In May, US media calculated that US defense contractors had run up a $14.2 billion backlog on military equipment Taiwan bought back in 2019 but has yet to receive. The same month, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense announced that it was searching for a stopgap alternative to US-made M109A6 self-propelled howitzers after being informed by their manufacturers that they would not be delivered until 2026 “at the earliest.”
Beijing considers Taiwan an inalienable part of China destined for eventual reunification with the mainland under the ‘One Country-Two Systems’ model currently used in Hong Kong and Macau. Speaking at the Chinese Communist Party’s 20thParty Congress on Sunday, President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing’s intention to achieve reunification peacefully, but warned that China could not rule out the use of force in the event of provocations.
“With all our efforts, we sincerely insist on the prospect of peaceful reunification, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the possibility of taking all necessary measures against the interference of external forces and the extremely small number of pro-Taiwan independence separatists and their secessionist activities,” Xi warned.