The US will transfer weapons to Taiwan for the first time under the program for sovereign states

Illustrative photo from open sources< /p>

US President Joe Biden's administration has approved funding for the first-ever transfer of US military equipment to Taiwan under a program normally used for sovereign nations. This is reported by CNN.

The US State Department has approved the provision of $80 million in military aid to Taiwan, which will be paid from the American budget. A State Department official confirmed to CNN the approval of the military aid, stressing that it does not represent a change in the “one China” policy.

But China's Foreign Ministry reacted strongly to the news on Thursday, calling on the United States to “stop the escalation of US-Taiwanese relations”. military relations and armaments of Taiwan and "stop creating tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

As CNN points out, the US has already sold weapons to Taiwan, but under a separate Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

Accordingly to the law passed last year, the US government has the right to spend up to two billion dollars annually in military grant aid to Taiwan from 2023 to 2027.

BAGNET recalls that it was previously reported that the US  are buying back the decommissioned MIM-23 Hawk air defense systems sold to Taiwan in order to provide them to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package.

Prepared by Serhiy Daga