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US Approves $2 Billion Arms Sale to Taiwan

Live rounds and flares are fired during a nighttime exercise on Penghu Islands, Taiwan October 24, 2024. Taiwan Military News Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Live rounds and flares are fired during a nighttime exercise on Penghu Islands, Taiwan October 24, 2024. Taiwan Military News Agency/Handout via REUTERS
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US Approves $2 Billion Arms Sale to Taiwan

Live rounds and flares are fired during a nighttime exercise on Penghu Islands, Taiwan October 24, 2024. Taiwan Military News Agency/Handout via REUTERS
Live rounds and flares are fired during a nighttime exercise on Penghu Islands, Taiwan October 24, 2024. Taiwan Military News Agency/Handout via REUTERS

The United States has approved a potential $2 billion arms sale package to Taiwan, the Pentagon said on Friday, including the delivery for the first time to the island of an advanced air defense missile system battle tested in Ukraine.
The United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, to the constant anger of Beijing.
China has been stepping up military pressure against Taiwan, including holding a new round of war games around the island last week, the second time it has done so since Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan's president in May.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the new sale consisted of $1.16 billion in missile systems and radar systems worth an estimated $828 million. The principal contractor for the missile system will be RTX Corp, Reuters quoted the Pentagon as saying.
"This proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient's continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability," it said in a statement.
"The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region."
The missile system sale is for three National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) medium-range air defense solutions that includes the advanced AMRAAM Extended Range surface to air missiles, it added.
The NASAMS system has been battle tested in Ukraine and represents a significant increase in air defense capabilities that the United States is exporting to Taiwan as demand for the system surges.
A US government source told Reuters on condition of anonymity that NASAMS was a new weapon for Taiwan, with Australia and Indonesia the only others in the region currently operating it.
Taiwan's defense ministry welcomed the announcement, noting the "proven" use of NASAMS in Ukraine and saying it would help Taiwan's air defense capabilities in the face of China's frequent military maneuvers.
Taiwan's military is bolstering its armaments to be able to better face any attack from China, including building its own submarines to defend vital maritime supply lines.
China detests Lai as a "separatist" and has rebuffed his repeated calls for talks. Lai rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
China's government on Saturday kept up its attacks on Lai, denouncing comments he made on Friday on a sensitive frontline island about how no "external force" can change Taiwan's future.
"There can be no future for 'Taiwan independence'. The future of Taiwan lies in the complete reunification of the motherland," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.

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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Georgia's president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.
The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday's election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe, said Reuters.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday they had registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but they stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the ballot, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won.
In an address on Sunday, she referred to the result as a "Russian special operation". She did not clarify what she meant by the term.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, of which Zourabichvili is a fierce critic, clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the outcome and vote monitors reported significant violations.
Georgian media cited Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as saying on Monday that the opposition was attempting to topple the "constitutional order" and that his government remained committed to European integration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States joined calls from observers for a full probe.
"Going forward, we encourage Georgia's political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together," Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, the European Union urged Georgia to swiftly and transparently investigate the alleged irregularities in the vote.
"The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed," the European Commission said in a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
President Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally who won the 2018 presidential vote as an independent, urged Georgians to protest in the center of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening, to show the world "that we do not recognize these elections".
For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country.
Russia defeated Georgia in their brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
The election result poses a challenge to the EU's ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova earlier this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election, a claim denied by Moscow.