Taiwan has no arms shopping list for Trump but keen to discuss, officials say
Nov 13, 2024
TAIPEI >> Taiwan does not have a “concrete list” of new arms deals to put to the United States’ incoming Trump administration but is keen to discuss how to boost the island’s defence, senior Taiwan security officials said. Democratically governed Taiwan, which is claimed by China, may place large new arms deals early in the life of the next U.S. administration to show it takes seriously a comment by President-elect Donald Trump that Taiwan should pay “protection” money, people familiar with government thinking previously told Reuters. The government in Taipei is considering buying a big package of weapons from the U.S. to demonstrate its commitment to the island’s defence, the Financial Times reported this week. “Currently we do not have any such concrete list but we welcome advice from all sides, with the most important thing being how to boost self-defence capacity,” a senior Taiwan security official told reporters in Taipei, requesting anonymity to be able to speak more frankly.