Taiwan says it has planned to purchase three Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems from the United States for about $761 million.

The Taipei Times newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing the Taiwanese Defence Ministry.

The Taipei Times reported that the systems will be delivered by December 31, 2030.

The systems are expected to be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District.

On October 25, 2024, the U.S. Defence Security Cooperation Agency said the U.S. had approved the sale of these systems to Taiwan.

The situation around Taiwan escalated in August 2022 after the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited the island.

China had condemned Ms Pelosi’s visit, saying it symbolised U.S. support for Taiwanese separatism, and conducted large-scale military exercises around the island.

Official relations between China’s central government and its island province broke down in 1949 after the defeated Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek moved to Taiwan in a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party.

Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, the two sides have maintained contact through non-governmental organisations. 

(RIA/NAN)