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China has reacted strongly to the recent US State Department approval of a $750 million weapons package for Taiwan. It is the Biden administration's first arms sale to the island.
Accusing the US of playing up the' Taiwan card' China has vowed to "take all measures necessary" to safeguard its "national sovereignty and territorial integrity." China calls Taiwan its "inalienable" part. The US sales include 40 155-millimeter Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer artillery guns and 1,700 precision guidance kits for munitions, training and upgrades for the previous generation of howitzers. [https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202108/07/WS610e1078a310efa1bd6675c2.html]
While the approval of the deal has been termed "perilous provocation" by the Chinese opinion writers, claiming that it showed US's "ill intent" towards China, several of them are also calling the weapons that Taiwan will be getting as "outdated" and no match to Chinese military.
"The howitzers to be sold this time are outdated weapons and will only become live targets for the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) if a war breaks out in the Straits," says an article in the Chinese Communist Party-controlled newspaper Global Times. [https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230698.shtml]
While the self-propelled howitzers boast a certain level of mobility, they cannot escape attacks by a combination of air and ground attacks, analysts say. According to Chinese defense experts, the self-propelled howitzers may have mobility, but they "cannot escape attacks by a combination of multi-role fighter jets, bombers, attack helicopters, rockets and ground troops." For instance, Wei Dongxu, a military expert, has said that the US is using Taiwan as a "recycling bin" for outdated weapons and equipment. [https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230698.shtml]
China has been conducting war games just off Taiwan and repeatedly threatened to invade it, as it considers Taiwan as a breakaway part of it. But the US has also been very active in the region by sending its navy to Taiwan and conducting military exercises regularly. [https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1230616.shtml]
Read more:
Biden's first arms deal with Taiwan:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-04/first-arms-sale-to-taiwan-by-biden-administration-is-approved
China vowing to hit back:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3143945/china-vows-hit-back-us750-million-us-arms-sale-taiwan
What's behind the China-Taiwan divide:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538
Even Japan jumps to Taiwan's defense:
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/japan-talks-defending-taiwan-against-china-aggression