The United States fuelled the tensions brewing between Taiwan and China by equipping the self-governing island with Asia’s first maintenance center for its largest fleet of advanced F-16 fighter jets in the continent. Taiwan recently secured a whopping $62 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to procure 66 new F-16 “Viper” jets additional jets, which when delivered by 2026, will take the island nation’s existing fleet to over 200 aircraft, a statistic which is certainly not going to settle well with the Chinese, who see the jet deal to be a provocation by the US. China considers Taiwan as a ‘renegade province’ and has threatened to annex the region using force if the island nation formally declares independence. Amid the rising and frequent military exercises by China and US in the region, the inauguration of the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), a first of its kind in the Indo-Pacific region, is seen as a means to boost the nation’s air force combat capabilities and beef u...
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