Taiwanese soldiers, in Taipei on October 16, 2020. -

Ceng Shou Yi / Sipa USA / SIPA

It is election day in the United States, but American diplomacy does not end for all that.

Washington announced on Tuesday that it had approved the sale to Taiwan of four MQ-9 “Reaper” killer drones for $ 600 million.

The objective is to strengthen the defense of the island in the midst of rising tensions with Beijing.

"Respond to present and future threats"

This sale will allow Taipei to "modernize its armed forces and maintain credible defense capabilities," said the State Department.

"It will improve [Taiwan's] ability to respond to present and future threats by providing it with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, targeting and strike capabilities on land, at sea and underwater," said the Minister. American press release.

This is the third major arms sale to Taiwan that President Donald Trump's administration has approved in less than three weeks, bringing the total amount of possible arms acquisitions for the island to $ 4.8 billion.

This new transaction involves four ready-to-arm MQ-9B drones, two fixed ground control stations and two other mobiles, targeting systems, radars and imaging systems intended for reconnaissance missions.

The beneficiary of the contract is the American defense group General Atomics.

The tenth arms sale under the Trump administration

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stressed the importance of these arms sales.

“This is the tenth arms sale to Taiwan under President Trump and the third time in two weeks that the US government has provided our country with significant defensive weapons that will allow Taiwan to strengthen its capabilities and confidence in the defending peace in the Taiwan Strait, ”the ministry said.

The issue of US arms sales to Taiwan is highly sensitive in China.

Beijing, which claims the island of 23 million people ruled for 75 years by a rival regime, has promised to "sanction" the American groups Boeing Defense, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon for arms sales announced previously.

But the Trump administration is not backing down.

Washington remains the island's most powerful ally and its number one arms supplier.

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