Taiwan News
EDITORIAL
Date: 2015-12-17
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer
On Wednesday, the administration of United States President Barack 
Obama notified Congress of a proposal to sell US$1.83 billion (NT$60 billion) worth of military hardware to Taiwan.
The package included two Perry-class frigates, AAV-7 amphibious assault vehicles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, Javelin and TOW 2B anti-tank missiles, and a number of other systems and weapons.
The notification by the president to Congress is usually just a formality, with only a highly unlikely objection from members of Congress within 30 days able to derail it.
The announcement has been welcomed by just about all parties involved, with the predictable exception of China of course. The Obama Administration emphasized it was merely following the guidelines of the Taiwan Relations Act in supplying defensive weapons to the island.
Amid the sounds of praise at home and abroad, there were also expressions of “yes, but.” Republicans in the U.S. had remarks in the sense of “too little, too late,” faulting Obama for waiting until near the end of his second term to close the deal. [FULL STORY]
