by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Taiwan has told the incoming Trump administration it is interested in securing a massive $15 billion military weapons deal with the United States, the Financial Times reported exclusively on Tuesday (November 12).
Taiwanese defense has been brought to the forefront of the world stage amid heightened tensions with China, whose government denies Taiwan’s independence and wants to annex the island nation through war if necessary.
Citing anonymous Taiwanese official sources, the FT said Taipei’s inquiries about a defense deal include interest in procuring the Aegis destroyer, and possibly 60 F-35s, four Advanced Hawkeyes, 10 retired vessels and 400 Patriot missiles.
“There are quite a few big platforms and other items that our armed forces have had their eyes on for a long time, but have not been able to acquire, so there’s a lot to choose from,” a Taiwanese official source told the FT.
In its report, the FT quoted US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers as noting that such a large deal “could look like a down payment that would attempt to get off on the right foot with the new administration.”
Reporting on the matter, the Taipei Times noted: “In his first term, Trump approved 11 packages to Taiwan worth US$21 billion, including F-16 jets and tanks, with the administration under US President Joe Biden also approving US$7 billion in deals.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
A 33-year-old man in eastern Uganda was allegedly killed by his Muslim father after converting to Christianity, local sources said, in what church leaders describe as part of a broader pattern of faith-related violence in the African nation.
Christian advocacy groups have expressed alarm over what they describe as a sharp rise in arrests and mistreatment of Christians in Iran, particularly converts, accusing the Islamic Republic of increasingly using national security laws to suppress religious dissent.
A campaign video distributed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, showing a little girl weeping at a window and intercut with scenes of her father being executed in war, has sparked outrage among opposition leaders, including Budapest’s mayor.
Crowds marched to the Russian Embassy in Budapest on Sunday to mark nearly four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war that is believed to have caused nearly 2 million military casualties.
Iran is increasing pressure on Hezbollah to join any future war with Israel, even as Tehran appears reluctant to enter direct conflict for now.
Major Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” was killed Sunday during a military operation in Jalisco state, Mexico’s Defense Department announced, delivering one of the most significant blows to organized crime in recent years.
Anti-government protests have erupted at multiple Iranian universities, marking the largest campus demonstrations since January’s deadly nationwide crackdown, as nuclear negotiations with the United States proceed under the shadow of possible military action.