[[link removed]]

THE PERILOUS SHIFT IN U.S. WEAPONS SALES TO TAIWAN  
[[link removed]]


 

Jianlu Bi
December 31, 2025
Foreign Policy in Focus
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Washington’s attempt to “use Taiwan to contain China” is not
only failing to provide security but is actively accelerating the very
confrontation it claims to deter. _

Taiwan's military capabilities on display at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
Hall, (Shutterstock).

 

The recent announcement by the U.S. government of a record-breaking
$11.1 billion arms package
[[link removed]]
for Taiwan marks a dangerous escalation that threatens to shatter the
fragile peace of the Taiwan Strait. Although Washington cloaks these
transactions in the language of “regional stability,” a deep
analysis of the hardware and the timing reveals a predatory strategy.
This is no longer about maintaining a “defensive” balance; it is a
calculated effort to turn Taiwan into a front-line arsenal, pushing
the region toward the brink of a conflict that neither the people of
Taiwan nor the world can afford.

For decades, U.S. arms sales were ostensibly limited to short-range,
defensive platforms. The current package includes
[[link removed].]420
ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) with a range of 300 kilometers,
paired with over 80 HIMARS launchers. These are not tools for coastal
defense; they are long-range precision-strike weapons designed to
reach deep into the Chinese mainland. By providing these systems, the
United States is signaling a pivot toward “offensive deterrence,”
granting the Taipei authorities the capacity to initiate or escalate
conflict far beyond the island’s shores.

Perhaps most striking is the massive investment in “loitering
munitions”—effectively kamikaze drones. With over 1,000 Altius and
Switchblade systems included
[[link removed].],
Washington is attempting to operationalize the “Hellscape”
strategy
[[link removed]].
This approach seeks to saturate the Strait with autonomous, low-cost
killing machines. By shifting to unmanned systems, the United States
aims to create a high-attrition “meat grinder” on China’s
doorstep, treating the Taiwan Strait as a laboratory for modern
warfare while avoiding the immediate risk to American personnel.

The delivery mechanism has also become more aggressive. By
increasingly utilizing “Presidential Drawdown Authority” (PDA)
[[link removed]]
to fast-track weapons directly from U.S. stockpiles, Washington is
bypassing conventional oversight and accelerated the construction of a
permanent “munitions depot” on the island. This is “salami
slicing” at its most cynical: a series of “unprecedented” steps
that, when viewed together, seek to normalize a _de facto_ military
alliance. It is a “warm water frog” tactic designed to hollow out
the One-China principle until it is nothing but a historical footnote.

The arms sales are the primary tool for a two-pronged strategy: the
United States “using Taiwan to contain China” and supporting the
Lai Ching-te administration’s secessionist goals.

Washington’s primary interest is not the “democracy” or
“well-being” of the Taiwanese people but rather the strategic
utility of the island as a “stationary aircraft carrier” to hem in
China’s maritime rise. By flooding the island with weapons, the
United States is essentially outsourcing its containment strategy. The
goal is clear: create a “porcupine” that consumes China’s
resources and focus, regardless of the cost to the people living on
the island. Taiwan is being groomed not for prosperity but for
sacrifice.

This strategy finds a willing, albeit reckless, partner in Lai
Ching-te. Since taking office, Lai has consistently pushed a
separatist agenda, cloaking “Taiwan independence” in the language
of “strength” and “asymmetric defense.” By committing to a $40
billion total arms procurement plan
[[link removed].],
Lai is gambling with the island’s future. He operates under the
delusion that more missiles equal more security.

In reality, Lai’s relying on foreign forces for “independence”
is a dead end. Every new shipment of HIMARS or drones only serves to
heighten the risk of miscalculation. By kowtowing to U.S. strategic
interests and ignoring the legislative and public outcry within Taiwan
regarding the “hollowing out” of the island’s economy for the
sake of weapons, the current administration is not building a shield;
they are building a powder keg.

Beijing’s response to this $11.1 billion provocation has been swift
and systematic, moving beyond diplomatic protest to a phase of active
legal and military counter-retaliation. On December 26, 2025, the
Chinese Foreign Ministry
[[link removed]] invoked the
Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, blacklisting 20 U.S. defense
firms—including Boeing’s St. Louis branch, Northrop Grumman, and
L3Harris—alongside 10 senior executives such as Anduril founder
Palmer Luckey. By freezing assets and enforcing a total ban on Chinese
entities doing business with these firms, Beijing is signaling that
the era of consequence-free interference is over. These sanctions
serve as a stark warning to the U.S. industrial complex: participation
in the militarization of Taiwan will result in a permanent loss of
access to the world’s second-largest economy.

Simultaneously, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
[[link removed]]has
transitioned to a state of heightened “combat readiness,” framing
the shift toward offensive systems like ATACMS as a direct threat to
national sovereignty. The Ministry of National Defense has vowed to
utilize “forceful measures” to frustrate the “Taiwan
independence” agenda of the Lai Ching-te administration. By
intensifying joint-strike drills and “hellscape” counter-drone
exercises, China is demonstrating that it will not be intimidated by
the “warm water frog” tactics of the West. This multifaceted
response—combining economic decapitation of defense contractors with
a resolute military posture—underscores a clear reality:
Washington’s attempt to “use Taiwan to contain China” is not
only failing to provide security but is actively accelerating the very
confrontation it claims to deter.

Each U.S. sale intended to “boost morale” in Taipei instead
triggers a tightening of the strategic circle, reminding the world
that the “One-China” principle is backed by the credible and
growing capability to enforce it. True peace in the Taiwan Strait
cannot be purchased from a defense contractor. It can only be
maintained through the recognition of historical reality and the
cessation of separatist provocations. If Washington continues to arm
the “Taiwan independence” forces, it will eventually find that it
has sliced the salami so thin that nothing remains of the peace it
claims to protect.

 

_Jianlu Bi is a Beijing-based award-winning journalist and current
affairs commentator. His research interests include international
politics and communications. He holds a doctoral degree in
communication studies and a master’s degree in international
studies. He also writes for the SCMP, Foreign Policy In Focus, TRT
World, Eurasia Review, International Policy Digest, Modern Diplomacy,
IOL, the Citizen, Tehran Times and others._

 

_Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) is a “Think Tank Without Walls”
connecting the research and action of scholars, advocates, and
activists seeking to make the United States a more responsible global
partner. It is a project of the Institute for Policy Studies._

_FPIF provides timely analysis of U.S. foreign policy and
international affairs and recommends policy alternatives on a broad
range of global issues — from war and peace to trade and from
climate to public health. From its launch as a print journal in 1996
to its digital presence today, FPIF has served as a unique resource
for progressive foreign policy perspectives for decades._

* Taiwan
[[link removed]]
* China
[[link removed]]
* U.S. arms sales
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]