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© 2024 AFPTaiwan receives first batch of U.S.-made Abrams tanks
By Joy CHIANG TAIPEI©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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RichardPearce
Ah, right, the tanks that the underequipped demoralized Russian draftees have been taking outvwith primitive drones.
Yes, they're definitely going to be a big deterrence
Fighto!
Good news for free, democratic Taiwan. 108 Abram's M1A2 tanks by '26 will no doubt play their part in protecting free Taiwan.
If the CCP throw one of their usual tantrums over this, too bad.
deanzaZZR
That is an interesting use of language seeing as there is no security agreement between USA and Taiwan/ROC.
When China, USA established official diplomatic relations in 1979 the USA Americans wrote, "The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan."
The only way you get from there to here is USA American lies which should surprise no one.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well, I suppose we should be thankful they are buying ground equipment, but I would think hundreds of howitzers would be more cost effective.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The russian hasn't faced an air force since the Korean War.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well that can always change if we get a president with some spine or if China pushes things far enough.
1979 was also the year the Taiwan Relations Act was passed. Unless they are complete dullards, the CCP knew arming Taiwan would continue.
Mr Kipling
Taiwan, don't waste your money. Even the US is now admitting that the much trumpeted Abrams tank has been useless in Ukraine. $1000 will get you a drone more than capable of landing a knockout blow on an Abrams or to be fair, any other MBT.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The most important point. The russian hasn't seen what NATO equipment used as designed can do.
JJE
Nor has the US faced an air force since the Korean war (well, there was a bit of a one in the Vietnam war).
No DU armour. No Trophy.
So, overweight, underpowered jet fuel guzzlers that chews juice even on idle.
Can be heard from a mile away.
Maintenance is complicated.
Weren't a gamechanger in Ukraine conflict by any measure.
isabelle
...with absolutely no justification for doing so.
Beijing doesn't seem to realize that the rest of us don't live in its fantasy land, and that Emperor Xi's imperial edicts don't apply in the real world.
isabelle
Taiwan isn't a formal ally, but the defense purchases are covered by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, amongst other agreements.
....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_Relations_Act#Military_provisions
The act states that "the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability" and "shall maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan"
....
...but the United States of America does not recognize, and has never recognized, Taiwan as being part of the PRC.
You already know this, of course, and are just spinning the usual pro-CCP line.
Or by willfully misrepresenting the facts, as you have done.
TaiwanIsNotChina
There is no American on here tittering about t-90s losing their tops. I mean they could, but it wouldn't be on topic.
Their was no air force to clear the rabble from in front of them.
JJE
The first poster has a valid point. FPV Drones, not to mention specialized military variants like the incredibly effective Russian Lancet, have reshaped the modern battlefield. And tanks are no exception.
The first thing Taipei will do - surely - will be to add a purpose-built slat armour cage over the turret. Then another one over the engine and exhaust port on the rear. Both are definite weak spot, and drones have knocked out many of these Abrams and other types of tanks/heavy vehicles in Ukraine.
Even the IDF is widely deploying anti-drone add-on armour. The US is testing it. Others too. You'd be mad not to.
Even just disabling it by knocking off a track or whatever turns these Abrams into a 67,000kg paperweight.
(what happened to the F-16's?)
SomeWeeb
Not like, SUPER useful against boats. But not useless either probably?
Fos
The same warmongering attitude over and over again, and the sheer hypocrisy spread by the usual suspects, and with pride. As if deterrence and new weapons strictly made in Usa will solve anything, other than enriching those Wall Street bankers. Americans will always be unwelcome guests, China will always be part of the continent
Fighto!
Free Taiwan equipping themselves with modern tanks is certainly not "warmongering". Taiwan is defending herself - just as every nation is entitled to do.
If free Taiwan with just over 100 tanks is a "warmonger" by your definition, Communist China, equipped with over 6500 battle tanks, is the real warmonger.
JJE
What happened to the heinous offense of arming separatists?
Taiwan province lacks UN-recognition.
This could be considered illegal weapons proliferation.
isabelle
Taiwan receiving tanks to defend itself against a totalitarian state, which has an official policy of forcibly annexing it, is "warmongering?"
A very strange interpretation. But sadly all too common from certain mouthpieces on JT.
By the CCP, Russia, and North Korea perhaps.
The rest of the region will continue to welcome the US -- hence all those bases and military agreements you people constantly moan about.
Yes, but luckily the CCP won't.
Once the CCP falls, we can all get along with China. Until then, no chance.
Peter14
JJEToday 07:25 pm JST
Has nothing to do with The Republic of China which was established in 1912 and continues to this day. And the US is not selling weapons to separatist PRC who broke away from the ROC in 1949.
No relevance to anything whatsoever.
Nothing illegal has occurred so no it cant be considered as illegal weapons proliferation.
Peter14
With a fully functioning arsenal including:- 1 x 120 mm L/44 M256 smoothbore gun (42 rounds), 1 x 0.50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2HBheavy machine gun with 900 rounds, 2 x 7.62 mm (.308 in)M240machine guns with 10,400 rounds (1 pintle-mounted, 1 coaxial), plus smoke grenade launchers and crews personal sidearms.
Still very deadly to any nearby enemy troops.
hooktrunk2
The Abrams tanks sent to Ukraine were stripped of their depleted uranium armor before being shipped.
I wonder if the same will be shipped to Taiwan?
JJE
Yes, no depleted uranium armor.
Peter14
The 49 Abrams M1A1 AIM tanks Australia are sending to Ukraine never had depleted Uranium armor to begin with, but had a unique armor package (classified) instead.
BertieWooster
Not content with Ukraine and Israel, the US is getting ready for a proxy war with China?
isabelle
The PRC threatening to annex peaceful, democratic Taiwan by force, and Taiwan buying defense equipment to protect itself from this threat, is a very strange definition of "proxy war."
So strange, in fact, that some may call it total nonsense.
Jaswinder Sandhu
USA is very smart to have created a market around the world for its junk.
RichardPearce
Violence, and the tools of violence are about all that the US exports now, and for quite some time.
Zaphod
....and easily destroyed by cheap drone. Designed for a completely different war than anything hat could possibly happen in Taiwan. But hey, General Dynamics, Raytheo et al are happy.
Zaphod
Peter14
....and which would be the PRC that the US since 72 recognizes as the sole representative of China? Try again with those history books...
isabelle
But not of Taiwan. As I say above, the US does not recognize, and has never recognized, Taiwan as being part of the PRC.
...
https://www.us-taiwan.org/resources/faq-the-united-states-one-china-policy-is-not-the-same-as-the-prc-one-china-principle/
The United States’ “One China Policy” does not recognize Taiwan as part of the PRC.
The U.S. has never recognized Taiwan as a part of the PRC. The U.S. merely acknowledges that the PRC holds the position that Taiwan is part of the PRC.
...
Speak for yourself.
WoodyLee
For what??
China will Not attack Taiwan Militarily, it will consume it.
OssanAmerica
The United States has never recognized Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. Get over it.
As for lies;
"Five years ago on September 25, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping stood in the White House Rose Garden and stated “China does not intend to pursue militarization” of the Spratly Islands, and China’s outposts would not “target or impact any country.” China has instead pursued a reckless and provocative militarization of those disputed outposts, they have deployed anti-ship cruise missiles, expanded military radar and signal intelligence capabilities, constructed dozens of fighter jet hangars, and have built runways capable of accommodating combat aircraft."
https://2017-2021.state.gov/chinas-empty-promises-in-the-south-china-sea/
deanzaZZR
Oh, that whipped them into a frenzy. Some cannot deal rationally with the truth.
So wrote the USA when establishing formal diplomatic relations with China. Either you need help with your reading comprehension or you are fine with the two-faced nature of USA diplomacy as shown to all the world in the continued political and military support to Israel now bombing Arab citizens in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
Fos
What do you care about double standards and morals when you can bomb and obliterate one region (Gaza, Lebanon), and push the financial indexes to record, after shipping over $100 billions to Ukraine destabilizing the whole continent, and start flaring up more tensions in Asia by making business with Taiwan? Not to mention the orders of weapons worth tens of billions dollars with Japan and South Korea. Find a culprit: China, go figure. These are the so called “ethical reasons” of the US administration and their usual suspects: greed&guns
isabelle
I would suggest you need help reading all the facts, rather than just the couple bits you want to support your pro-CCP agenda, and ignoring all the rest.
You will likely ignore all the below too, and continue to post the same CCP lines on every thread, but for the benefit of others who are interested in the truth...
The Shanghai Communiqué was not the end of the story, but only the beginning. Relations weren't officially normalized until 1979, when the US confirmed that it only "acknowledged" (not endorsed) the PRC's position on Taiwan:
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Communiqu%C3%A9_on_the_Establishment_of_Diplomatic_Relations#Differences_in_wording_regarding_recognition_of_Taiwan
The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.
...
It also confirmed that arms sales weren't covered in the negotiations.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Communiqu%C3%A9_on_the_Establishment_of_Diplomatic_Relations#Key_Summary_Points
2. That the "question of United States arms sales to Taiwan" was not settled during negotiations between the two countries.
...
What did confirm the arms sales was the Taiwan Relations Act (my post above), which came into force shortly after precisely to guard against the PRC annexing Taiwan.
And this legislation (and others) covers the defense sales mentioned in this very article.
Pukey2
Yep, the usual warmongers here at it again. And the American military industrial complex is laughing all the way to the bank. And laughing at the sheep.
ClippetyClop
Annoying, eh?
All of your favourite murderous dictators (of which there are many) are trying to steal some land or crush some small neighbour. But someone keeps giving / selling them arms.
Another stone in your shoe that America put there.
Fos
Ah aha ah… Here comes the alter ego :) When it comes to money, do not touch their investments when they have got buy their Christmas presents.
It's the desperate move of US and it's next lost war…
One more to the list..
TaiwanIsNotChina
Wiping out a bridgehead will be a much more compressed operation than the huge front of Putin's disgrace in Ukraine.
Taiwan is the legal government of China since 1912.
More than russia's disgraces.
Not unless the weapons are illegal like the ones showing up in NK, Iran, and Belarus.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Defending 24 million people from heinous assault is something to be proud of.
Still 1% of gdp.
China will always be a belligerent piece of stuffing under the CCP.
Still 1% of gdp.
Still Putin's War
Still 75 years of maintaining Taiwan's independence.
All perfectly legal.
China bullying of Taiwan and the Philippines is not CG.
Still 1% of gdp.
On the contrary, Iraq is being removed from the lost war list which leaves the US on par with russia and its losses in Afghanistan and Ukraine.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Sending tanks to Taiwan is weak tea compared to China building the largest navy and working on the largest air force in the world.
RichardPearce
China won't be invading. They will either be 'blockading a terrorist held Chinese territory' or will simply enforce cabotage rules on the shipping companies (you dock at ONLY 1 port in China, and Taipei can count as that port, or pay massive charges to transport goods within China).
It is possible they could also go the 'sanctions' route, and any companies/individuals doing business with the Taipei regime, or the oligarchs close to them can see assets seized, etc, though somehow I think the US would declare that illegal...without a sense of shame about the double standards.
TaiwanIsNotChina
A blockade is an act of war and will rightly be seen as such.
Cut off more rare earth metals why don't you. No country enslaves themselves to make a quick buck.
elephant200
Taiwan is an island not a continental country like Ukraine. China controlled the sea and in the air, these tanks were useless !
TaiwanIsNotChina
Taiwan will have to smash the pirates that make it ashore. Nothing useless about them although howitzers would be better.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The "Taipei regime" is infinitely more respectable than the Chinese Criminal Party.
Fighto!
Richard Pearce -
The pro-Communists and haters of democracy and freedom are out in force.
Describing free Taiwan - a progressive, free democracy - as a "terrorist", says everything we need to know about you.
John
The tanks got delivered to Taiwan via Japan? Or Taiwan just likes writing in Japanese on it's cranes.
elephant200
@TaiwanIsChina: smash the pirates that make it ashore. Nothing useless.....
China has more than a quarter of sea mines. Just laying 10% of these sea mines is good enough to starve tge island. No fuels or materials allowed to get in or sneak out. Are these tanks can do mine sweeping operation?
China is not as stupid to play tank battles as you thought !
elephant200
These tanks maybe useful for Ukraine but definitely not Taiwan. Chinese warships were surrounding the island now, what can these tanks do? Nothing !
Fos
And here we have the usual belligerent suspects talking about the legality of arming another country on the other side of the world, and accusing China - which is very much part of the continent, unlike the United States of America with their warmongering attitude.
Perhaps people forget that we have a government, the US administration, who has been selling over $20 billions of lethal weapons to Israel in 2024 for the mass killings of over 45.000 people in Gaza alone (70% of which are women and children, the UN says).
Not to mention the ongoing destabilizing process in Eastern Europe, where the White House managed to sell over $100 billions dollars of arms in Ukraine. Another 14 billions dollars of weapons shipping orders went to Asia in the last 7 weeks by the departing administration (all the orders are easily traceable), and that does not include the latest in Taiwan, to keep inciting tensions.
And for what outcome? Wall Street on all time high with the huge profits of Wall Street elites?
Fos
RichardPearceToday
Don't tell them that! The informants need to believe in something, and most of all need to get paid! Wall Street is doing well, the Nasdaq rose to another record and the likes of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies can celebrate. No matter of many hundreds of thousands deaths they cause. That is the Frontier Spirit of United States of America
WoodyLee
Q? when was the last time China directly invaded another nation?
There is the answer, time is on China side, the people of Taiwan will decide the faith of their nation and NO ONE ELSE.
Fos
China has not been engaged in military activity for the past forty years. In that time, the US has overthrown numerous governments and illegally invaded many countries. China has a large and diverse population in areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It has land borders with fourteen other countries.
China, it is true, now has the world’s second largest military budget, as part of an extensive modernisation program. Its current defence spending has risen steadily in recent years but is one third of the budget allocation for defence which the Biden Administration submitted to Congress earlier this year.
isabelle
Why are you writing in the past tense? Did you see this in a dream or something? It hasn't happened.
No idea what "a quarter of sea mines" means. But I will tell you that the free world also has lots of mines to stop China with.
Let's hope your Emperor isn't stupid enough to start a war over this.
isabelle
The US arms sales are totally legal, under US, Taiwanese, and international law. You can stomp your feet about it all you want, but you can't change the facts.
Oh, and thanks for calling Taiwan a "country" because, despite the CCP lies, we all know it clearly is.
Yes, because China has a stated, official policy of annexing Taiwan, even by force. Neither the US or Taiwan (or anyone else) has a policy of attacking China. Again, the facts are very clear.
Here you go again with your tired, anti-US tu quoque.
Posting this on every thread (whether it's a thread about the US or not) will not change the fact that you are employing a fallacy. That fallacy will rightly be discounted from the argument.
It is engaged in military/paramilitary activity right now, in the South China Sea and Indian border (even despite the recent agreement).
Peter14
But the US does not recognize China as ruling or representing Taiwan. Nor do most nations. They recognize that China believes it does.
HopeSpringsEternal
Taiwan's Very happy Trump was elected in order to restart global stability and prosperity. Together with Xi, winding down Biden wars will strengthen all currencies purchasing power of real assets = drive down Global Inflation
Xi has bigger fish to fry than Taiwan, China needs global normalization and stability for China's economy to thrive = Help bring Biden Admin's wars to an end with Trump
Taiwan's Very safe for now due to Trump, but there is no military solution long-term = they need to work it out.
Peter14
Your opinion only. A bogus claim to be sure.
More bogus lies. Biden and America are not in any wars. Biden worked hard to repair the damage from Trumps first swing at ending US democracy, and rebuilding trust in America with its allies.
Taiwan's position is now in even more danger because Trump will sell out anyone for a few compliments and a few dollars.
Trump is a lying imbecile who puts everyone on the planet in danger. The planet is about to get even hotter with him in charge.
Ricky Kaminski13
How dare you even try and prepare for a bloody invasion and show of our might is right ? strategy. You are to reintegrate , or else!
Thanks for the offer guys, but, yeah , naah.
Defence has always been the best offence.