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By Micah McCartney
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The administration of President Donald Trump on Wednesday approved what is possibly the largest U.S. arms sale yet to Taiwan, in a sign that a relative thaw in U.S.-China relations has not impacted Washington's support for the self-ruled island's security.
Why It Matters
China claims Taiwan as its territory, although Beijing's Communist Party-led government has never ruled there. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called unification between the two sides inevitable.
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China's threats and military exercises of increasing scale have driven Taipei to step up weapons orders from Washington, which conducts arms sales under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.
Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry by email with a request for comment.
Weapons Systems the U.S. Is Selling Taiwan
The approved sale of up to $11.1 billion features a range of asymmetric capabilities that would give Taiwan's coastal defenses a critical boost in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Items include 82 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) requested by Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as related equipment and spare parts. Taipei previously ordered 29 HIMARS and received 11 last year.
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Also listed are 60 M109A7 self-propelled howitzers; 70 shoulder-fired Javelin anti-tank missile systems and over 2,500 Javelin missiles and 2B BGM-71F-7-RF anti-tank missiles; as well as ALTIUS-700M and ALTIUS-600 "suicide drones."
The package would also include support for Taiwan’s air fleet, such as spare parts and “return-and-repair support” for its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, and domestically produced Indigenous Defense Fighter
The deal comes just months after Trump reportedly declined to greenlight a $400-million weapons package to Taiwan. At the time, observers speculated the president could be using Taiwan as a bargaining chip to secure a trade deal with China.
What People Are Saying
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement: "Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung welcomed the move and expressed sincere gratitude for the United States’ longstanding support for regional security and Taiwan’s self-defense."
Guo Jiakun, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters that the arms package "seriously violates the One-China Principle and three China-U.S. joint communiques, undermines China's sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, disrupts peace and stability across the [Taiwan] Strait, and sends a seriously wrong message to Taiwan independence separatist forces. China strongly opposes and condemns this."
What Happens Next
Senior U.S. defense and intelligence officials have in recent years said they believe Xi has ordered the People's Liberation Army to be capable of moving against Taiwan by 2027, though they acknowledge this does not mean he will launch an invasion that or any other year.
Update 12/18/25 4:37 ET: This article has been updated with more information.
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