Ministry of National Defense Press Release

Time: July 9^th, 2019 at 09:00 a.m.

Ministry of National Defense has stated today (9^th) that the American government has begun the procedure of “Notifying Congress” on July 8^th EST regarding 4 military sales to Taiwan including “M1A2 Tanks” that are worth approximately more than $27 billion USD, which is expected to be effective after one month. The 2 items of “M1A2 Tanks” and “Portable Short Range Air Defense Missiles” to Taiwan totaling $2,223,560,000 USD (approximately $67,818,580,000) are newly added requirements, and have been announced on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA); the other 2 items of “Javelin Anti-Armor Missiles” and “TOW 2B Missiles” to Taiwan are renewal items, hence they do not need to be announced on the website of DSCA.

Ministry of National Defense pointed out that the United States of America has agreed on the items for this military sale on the basis of “Taiwan Relations Act” and “Six Assurances”, and continues to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons as well as fights to obtain important defensive weapons and equipment for many years, which has helped Taiwan with reinforcing self-defense capability and maintaining regional peacefulness and stability, and for that the Ministry of National Defense hereby expresses its gratitude to the United States of America for its decision on the military sale.

Ministry of National Defense further pointed out that this military sale is the 4^th military sale to Taiwan from the Trump government, which indicates the military sales from the United States of America to Taiwan are becoming normalized; Taiwan and the United States of America will continue to reinforce the relationship of security strategic partnership, and protect the freedom and democracy of the Taiwan Strait as well as the peacefulness and stability of the Indo-Pacific area together.