Trump Arms Sales to Taiwan Boost Anti-China ‘Hedgehog’ Strategy

By: Iain Marlow and Samson Ellis | BLOOMBERG | 

In the last two weeks, the State Department signed off on the $2.4 billion sale of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems anti-ship missiles and $1.8 billion worth of extended-range land attack mobile missiles… . … Under Trump, the U.S. has pledged to sell nearly as many arms to Taiwan in U.S. dollar terms as the Obama administration did in eight years… . Still, land-based missile systems like the Harpoon “will have only marginal deterrence value unless thousands are deployed, which currently seems unlikely,” said Ian Easton… . “The sheer number of PLA targets is remarkable and many will be decoys.” …

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