The United States confirmed the sale of an advanced air defence missile system worth almost 700 million dollars to Taiwan. It is the second such weapons package for Taipei in a week. In the Indo-Pacific region, only Australia and Indonesia now operate the system. The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, NASAMS, which was used in Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion, offers a sharp boost in air defence capabilities that the United States is exporting to Taiwan as demand for it surges. The arms sales news comes amid Chinese coast guard ships sailing through waters around a group of East China Sea islands controlled by Japan.