US approves $400m support for Taiwan's tactical information systems

WASHINGTON - The US State Department has approved a US$300 million (S$400 million) sale of equipment to help maintain Taiwan's tactical information systems, the Pentagon said on Friday (Dec 16), the latest US assistance for the island's defences.

The United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself and arms sales are a frequent source of tension between Washington and Beijing.

The Pentagon's Defence Security Cooperation Agency said the sale was for follow-on life cycle support to maintain Taiwan's Command, Control, Communications, and Computers, or C4, capabilities.

The support would improve Taiwan's capability to "meet current and future threats by enhancing operational readiness" and maintain existing C4 capabilities that provide secure flow of tactical information, it added.

Taiwan's defence ministry said the sale will help maintain the effectiveness of its joint combat command and control systems so it can improve battlefield awareness.

"The Chinese communists frequent military operations around Taiwan presents a serious threat to us," the ministry said, adding it expected the sale to "take effect" in one month and expressed its thanks to the United States for the sale. The US Congress will be notified and the sale is likely to go ahead.

Democratically governed Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese military activity near the island over the past four years, as Beijing seeks to asserts its sovereignty claims.

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Taiwan's defence ministry said on Saturday morning that in the previous 24 hour period it had detected nine Chinese military aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait.

That line used to serve as an unofficial barrier between the two, but China's air force now regularly sends its aircraft across it, though they have not flown into Taiwan's territorial air space.

Taiwan, whose government says only the island's people can decide their future, holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan 13 which will shape the island's future relations with China.