China Insider | US Arms Sales to Taiwan, Putin-Xi Summit, Shanxi Province Mining Disaster Caption:
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In this week’s episode of China Insider, Miles Yu reviews the moratorium of US weapon sales to Taiwan as part of a $14 billion package approved by Congress, and how the decision impacts cross-strait relations. Next, Miles covers the bilateral dialogue held between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and assesses the outcomes and joint statement issued by both leaders following the summit. Finally, Miles discusses the tragic mining disaster at the Liushengyu mine in Shanxi Province, and analyzes how this crisis compares to prior mining disasters and China’s ongoing issues with adherence to safety regulations.
China Insider is a weekly podcast project from Hudson Institute’s China Center, hosted by China Center Director and Senior Fellow, Dr. Miles Yu, who provides weekly news that mainstream American outlets often miss, as well as in-depth commentary and analysis on the China challenge and the free world’s future.
Welcome to China Insider, a podcast from the Hudson Institute's China Center. I'm Miles Yu, Senior Fellow and Director of the China Center. Join me each week for our analysis of the major events concerning China, China threat, and their implications to the U.S. and beyond. It's Tuesday, May 26, then we have three topics this week. First, we review the moratorium of U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan as part of a $14 billion package and how this decision impacts the current U.S. forestry policy. Next, we cover the bilateral dialogue held between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping last week and assess the outcomes and statements made by both leaders following the summit. Finally, we discuss the tragic mining disaster that Shokshangxi province and how this development relates to China's ongoing issues with adherence to safety regulations. Miles, great to see you again. I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. So good for you and I was glad to be with you, Colin. Glad to hear. So up first today, for the past few months now, a $14 billion U.S. arms sales package to Taiwan has been paused awaiting final approval from President Trump in a recent congressional hearing. Acting U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Hong Kong, said that the current pauses due to the ongoing Iran war to ensure that the U.S. has enough munitions to carry out its operations against Iran and in the Strait of Hormuz. This development comes following comments made by President Trump after his bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping, noting the arms deal was an effective bargaining chip, which leaves the status of the $14 billion package in question to some. So, Miles, it's been some time now that this A package has been delayed. What should we know about the administration's decision to pause the delivery and the rationale behind the decision? There's nothing we should know about it because it's always in the open. The hype about this uncertainty of a U.S. determination to arm Taiwan is actually, it's pretty amazing. It's a base lesson in my view. Listen, there are over 200 countries in the world. United States is a number one weapons explorer in the world. Taiwan consists of number one. We sold more weapons to Taiwan than we sold weapons to any other country. I mean, this year alone, actually, this is a second Trump term alone. We sold Taiwan more weapons than we sold to Saudi Arabia, the second one, the second dot, and Israel, UAE, and Kuwait, those are the top countries we sold weapons to. Taiwan receives 11 billion dollars in aid packages last December. Most of the weapons were about, you know, deterring Chinese amphibious assault against Taiwan. So, I understand the sensitivity of that. We have the war in Iran. We do have a lot of demand for munitions. So, we have delivered to Taiwan more weapons than we do not turn any other country. So, this is absolutely, I don't think this speculation is really worth that much. Now, about the delay and the pause, there has no official decision yet. In other words, the continuation of the 14 billion dollar sale to Taiwan is still on track. So, and we have most of the weapons or we'll basically know what Taiwan needed. The Trump administration, I served in the Trump policy in the first term. We have a track record of providing Taiwan more weapons than we provide to any other country during Trump first term in 2019. We sold Taiwanese 66 F16 V block 70 fighter jets. That's the largest similar weapon sale since 1990s, early 1990s. And this is very important because of control air superiority. You know, air superiority is very important. So, F16 V is a very advanced weapon. It has improved avionics and it has a very good electronic warfare upgrade. And so, it's important. But most importantly, during the first term, we began to sell Taiwanese weapons of air defense and also anti ships and this landing weapons, particularly high marks. We saw Taiwanese 11 set of high-mark launchers and 64 attacking. Those were the US missiles with deep strike capabilities. In other words, that's what allowed Taiwan to destroy the Chinese ports from which the Chinese invasion troops might embark. So, those weapons were very important. And not only that, we also, of course, in 2020, a few months later, we saw Taiwanese harpoon coastal defense systems. Coastal defense is at the core of Taiwan's overall defense system. So, that's worth about $2.4 billion. The delivery has already sort of in process by the time that I left the office. So, the opportunity, not only that, we also provide the Taiwanese with a very powerful early warning system. This is the drones. Those
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