The government of Taiwan announced on Thursday that it will spend an additional T$94.3 billion ($2.97 billion) on armaments, including fighter jets, to enhance its defences against China. Taiwan will also benefit from modern F-16 fighter jet monitoring systems.
Over the past three years, China has increased military and political pressure to bolster its claims that Taiwan, which is democratically governed, is its own territory. Taiwan has vehemently rejected these claims.
Taiwan’s big step to fight China
The total projected defence budget for 2024 has already been established at T$606.8 billion, a 3.5% increase from the current year, according to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
After a cabinet meeting to examine the budget, the government’s statistics department announced that T$94.3 billion more would be spent on bolstering naval defences and buying fighter jets for around half of that amount.
US to sell F-16 fighter jests to Taiwan
On Wednesday, the United States (US) gave its approval to a potential $500 million sale to Taiwan of weaponry, including infrared search and track systems for F-16 fighter jets.
The F-35 and F-22 fighters, two of the most technologically advanced American aircraft, share the same search and tracking technology, according to Taiwan’s deputy defence minister Po Horng-huei.
“These will help to target the J-20 stealth fighter over the Taiwan Strait in the future,” Po said, referring to the new generation of Chinese fighter jets.
It will make Taiwan more capable of effectively discouraging Chinese air activities, he continued.
According to China’s foreign ministry, the United States (US) was urged to immediately halt the planned sale of armaments to Taiwan, something it usually opposes.
Taiwan’s parliament, where Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party holds a majority, will have to approve the country’s defence budget. The island will spend 2.5 percent of its GDP on defence in the upcoming year.
Tsai has presided over a military modernization strategy that includes constructing submarines and updating a fleet of F-16 fighter jets in order to better equip the armed forces to take on China.
Tsai stated on Monday that the first indigenous prototype submarine was anticipated to be unveiled as planned the following month.
In order to better compete with China’s PLA Air Force (PLAAF), especially its J-20 stealth fighters, Taiwan has ordered 66 new F-16V aircraft and is upgrading 141 F-16A/B aircraft to the F-16V type.
