Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te has promised to increase investment in America as his government tries to reduce Trump’s 20% tariff on exports. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it ‘strongly opposes’ Washington’s approval of this sale. This incident occurred almost two weeks after Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. Since becoming U.S. President, the United States has approved $330 million worth of parts and components to Taiwan in its first military sale.
A return of Donald Trump, the island’s foreign ministry said on Friday. Washington is Taiwan’s largest arms supplier. “This is the first time the new Trump administration has announced arms sales to Taiwan,” the foreign ministry said, after the U.S. State Department approved the package. A statement posted by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that Taiwan had requested “non-standard components, spare and repair parts, consumables, and support equipment, as well as repair and return support for F-16, C-130, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) aircraft.” China’s foreign ministry said it had “strongly opposed” Washington’s approval for the sale, which came just about two weeks after Mr. Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has worked hard with Mr. Trump and supported him, and has promised to increase defense spending to more than 3% of GDP by the next year and by 2030. Mr. Lai has also promised to promote investment in the United States, as his government is trying to reduce the 20% tariff imposed by Mr. Trump on Taiwan’s exports.
