For Taiwan, Trump’s ‘protection’ money may mean new and early big ticket arms deals

“Watch for Taiwan on the defence side to try and start engaging them on a big arms package – to do something significant, very large,” Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council which helps broker defence exchanges between Washington and Taipei, told Reuters, adding it could come in the first quarter of next year.

“But think of it as a down payment, an attention getter,” he said. “They’ll stack up several big platforms and big buys of munitions.”

The U.S. is already Taiwan’s most important arms supplier, although Taiwan has complained of an order backlog worth some $20 billion. A new order, almost $2 billion of missile systems, was announced last month.

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Profile at BowerGroupAsia: Rupert Hammond-Chambers