Taiwan’s first two F-16V fighter jets arrive to bolster defenses against China

TAITUNG, Taiwan — The first two of a batch of 66 new F-16V Block 70 fighter jets ordered in 2019 arrived in Taiwan on Friday after months of delays, helping to strengthen an air force that has to scramble almost daily to shadow China’s military. Taiwan faces a rising military threat from Beijing, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taipei has complained of repeated delays to weapons ordered from the United States, its most important international backer and arms supplier. The delivery, to Taitung’s Chihhang Air Base on the mountainous east coast, comes amid…