Taipei announced on Thursday that the Trump administration is moving ahead with its largest-ever weapons sale to the island—a massive $11.1 billion package that’s the second major deal since President Trump returned to office earlier this year.
This comes at a time when China has been stepping up military drills and pressure around Taiwan, which it claims is a renegade province.
Taiwan flatly rejects those claims and has been working hard to beef up its defenses, especially with faster, more mobile systems that can hit hard without requiring large forces.
The package includes “Ukraine Tested” HIMARS mobile rocket launchers, powerful self-propelled howitzers, Javelin and TOW anti-tank missiles, surveillance and combat drones, plus spare parts and support for existing gear, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.
The potential size of the deal rivals the $18 billion of military sales to Taiwan agreed by then-US President George W. Bush in 2001, though that was ultimately downsized after commercial negotiations.
“This is the second arms sale to Taiwan announced during the Trump administration’s second term, once again demonstrating the US’ firm commitment to Taiwan’s security,” Taipei’s foreign ministry said.
Its defence ministry said the sale is expected to take effect officially in about one month.
Even though the deal still needs approval from the US Congress, it is unlikely to fail given the cross-party consensus on Taiwan’s defence. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s government has vowed to ramp up defence spending amid China’s continued military pressure around the island.
Taiwan Eyes Fresh Diplomatic Ties With Honduras
Taiwanese seafood trader Jay Yen used to import 2,000 tonnes of shrimp a year from Honduras before Honduras cut diplomatic ties with the democratic island in 2023.
Now, it is just the odd “container or two”, but that could change if Honduras’s next president acts on an election pledge to forge closer ties with Taiwan.
The country’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing and scrap a free trade agreement with Taiwan was a huge blow for the Honduran shrimp industry.
Imports plunged from around 13,000 tonnes in 2022 to nearly 4,000 tonnes in 2024, according to Taiwanese data, as 20% tariffs made Honduran shrimp more expensive.
A diplomatic reversal would be a “good thing” for business and Taiwanese consumers, Yen told AFP at the headquarters of his family-run company, Yens, in Taipei.
“For us, we (would) have more choices to source white shrimp… And the end consumer will have more choices.”
Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla, who are neck and neck in the presidential race in Honduras, where vote counting is still underway, have both signalled support for switching ties from Beijing to Taipei.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has been systematically poaching its few remaining diplomatic allies in an effort to isolate the island.
A Honduran switch back would be a rare diplomatic win for Taiwan, but Taiwanese officials are responding cautiously.
“We are taking a proactive and open attitude,” Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said recently in response to questions from lawmakers.
Taiwan was in contact with Asfura and Nasralla’s teams, Lin said, but added: “Whatever we do must be beneficial to them and to us.”
Honduras’s 2023 move to end decades of diplomatic relations with Taipei followed negotiations with China on a hydroelectric dam.
Taiwan said at the time that the switch was part of China’s “coercion and intimidation” of Taipei’s allies.
China does not allow countries to maintain official ties with both Beijing and Taipei.
Since then, China has expanded its economic influence over Honduras, but has drawn criticism for flooding the country with cheap goods, employing Chinese workers on infrastructure projects, and failing to buy enough shrimp.
It’s also cost tens of thousands of jobs as dozens of companies closed, said Javier Amador, executive director of the National Association of Aquaculturists of Honduras.
Amador said shipments to Taiwan were more than six times the volume sent to China “even with the disadvantage of paying tariffs.”
On the campaign trail, Nasralla said: “Taiwan has been our great ally for more than 60 years. What has China given us?”
But the Honduran presidential candidates’ support for Taiwan could be a “negotiation tactic, said Fabricio Fonseca, associate professor in the Department of Diplomacy at Taipei’s National Chengchi University.
“If China is sensing that they are really serious about this, then, of course, there might be many offers that China can make,” Fonseca said.
“If in the end, they (Asfura or Nasralla) decide not to stick to this campaign promise, they have something to show in return.”
The United States could be a deciding factor if it were to help Taiwan woo back Honduras, he said.
Honduran coffee trader Elias Argueta hopes his country renews ties with Taiwan, where he lives with his wife and young daughter.
Argueta, 34, began importing beans directly from his parents’ farms in Honduras into the Taiwanese market in 2020, where coffee from Guatemala and Colombia is popular.
Since the diplomatic break-up, securing new customers has been harder because Taiwan’s government stopped promoting Honduran coffee.
If relations are restored, “people will be more open to take Honduran coffee, and definitely the official channels will open again here in Taiwan,” Argueta said.
“We do have a very good quality,” he added.
Mending ties between Honduras and Taiwan would not mean an immediate snap back in trade volumes, said Yen, the seafood trader.
However, it would provide the catalyst.
“Even if Taiwan does rebuild the relationship with Honduras and sign a (free trade agreement), it might take at least six months to almost a year for the industry to rebuild, for us to restart the business,” Yen said.
“But we’re looking forward to it.”
© Agence France-Presse
