Taiwanese authorities confirmed that the US State Department has approved the marketing license required for the sale of technology to Taiwan. However, that move could endanger China-US relations more severely than recent Trump’s trade tariffs, say analytics.
The presidential office spokesman Sidney Lin confirmed that Taiwan got an approval for the upgrading its Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities with the submarine sales. The Ministry of National Defense has released an official statement on 7 April that approval for the marketing licence was given by the US DoS.
According to the US, that will benefit the safety and security of the region as well. The local political observers believe that US move could endanger China-US relations, indeed. A massive force modernization program over the past two decades has seen China substantially outgunning Taiwan today, and submarines are seen to be an important asymmetric capability and will complicate any attempt by China to take Taiwan by force.
Ministry of National Defense has said the US government has awarded a marketing licence in support of its efforts to develop and construct diesel-electric submarines. The approval enables US industry to transfer submarine-related expertise to Taiwan, which a year ago launched a programme to design and build an indigenous fleet of between six and eight boats.
The MND added that it “expresses its thanks to the US government for attaching importance to Taiwan’s defence and security”, while Da Wei, director of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations’ Institute of American Studies, told the Global Times on Monday,
“In 2018, the biggest friction between China and the US so far is on trade, but the Taiwan question could be the most dangerous.”
