Bloomberg (August 4) reported that amid rising tensions with China, the Biden Administration has approved its first arms sale of a potential $750 million to Taiwan. It calls for selling Taiwan 40 new M109 self-propelled howitzers and almost 1,700 kits to convert projectiles into more precise GPS-guided munitions. The proposed sale must go through a congressional review process and then through negotiations between Taiwan and contractor BAE Systems Plc, which is also providing the U.S. Army with the latest version of the howitzer, before a contract is signed and delivery times are hashed out. The Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced the sale and said on August 5 that Beijing would take countermeasures “based on the development of the situation.”

(Comment: China imposed unspecified sanctions on the defence unit of Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., and Raytheon Technologies Corp. last year after the U.S. approved weapons sales to Taiwan from the companies.)