U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan

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After months of anticipation, on August 20, 2019, the Trump administration formally notified Congress of the possible sale of 66 F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan for $8 billion, drawing greater attention to U.S.-Taiwan arms sales. Additional arms sales notifications have occurred in 2020 totaling more than $5.8 billion. During the weeks of October 12 and September 14, major US media reports indicated that additional significant arms sales were under consideration, some of which were notified on October 21 and 26 and November 3 (see Reuters and NYT, for examples; lists of official notifications are below).

​U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have a long history and take place, in part, under of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 that Congress passed shortly after President Jimmy Carter ended official relations with Taiwan. Under that Act, the United States "will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability." While officially recognizing China and having formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, every presidential administration has since maintained unofficial relations with Taiwan and notified Congress of arms sales to it. 

From 1979 to 2018, 77% of arms imported by Taiwan were of U.S. origin, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s arms transfers database. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Obama administration (2009-2017) notified Congress of more than $14 billion in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and licensed another $6.2 billion in Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) to Taiwan. By the end of 2020, the Trump administration had formally notified Congress of more than $18 billion in potential FMS purchases by Taiwan, with the $8 billion for F-16s being the largest notification by far.

Taiwan, also referred to as the Republic of China, became the seat for the Chinese nationalists following their defeat by Mao Zedong's Communists on the mainland in 1949 and the corresponding establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) there. Taiwan is currently recognized by fewer than 20 countries worldwide, and lost its United Nations (UN) seat to the PRC in 1971. Since 1949, Beijing has maintained that Taiwan is simply a part of mainland China under its "one China" policy, while Taiwan has claimed independence to varying degrees under different governments.

At the time of the F-16 notification in 2019, cross-strait relations appeared particularly tense. Tsai Ing-Wen, president of Taiwan since 2016, had publicly criticized the "one country, two systems" consensus viewed by Beijing as assurance that Taiwan will not seek full independence. Xi Jinping, president of China since 2012, had proved to be just as upsetting to the status quo -- he retaliated against Tsai's pro-independence tendencies by pressuring countries to sever relations with Taiwan and placing financial strains on Chinese investment and tourism spending in Taiwan. 
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