The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of an anti-tank mine-laying system to Taiwan amid the rising military threat from China.
The department on Wednesday said the Volcano system and all related equipment would cost an estimated $180 million.
That has seen the ruling Communist Party’s increasingly powerful military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, send planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis. China also conducted large-scale live-fire military exercises in August in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Beijing views visits from foreign governments to the island as de facto recognition of Taiwan as independent and a challenge to China’s claim of sovereignty.
It said Taiwan would have “no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces," and that the sale would “not alter the basic military balance in the region."
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