音频下载[点击右键另存为]Taiwan officials say the United States is sending at least two large heavy-lift helicopters to Taiwan and relief supplies to help with the recovery effort following Typhoon Morakot. The arrival of foreign aid from the U.S. and other countries comes as Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou is facing a growing political storm over his handling of the recovery effort.
On Sunday, a C-130 American transport plane carrying nearly 7,000 kilograms of materials for makeshift housing touched down at Taiwan's southern Tainan Air Base.
Shipments from Australia have also arrived, along with a rescue team from South Korea. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry says more than 59 countries have offered aid to the island.
Taiwan media have been giving the arrival of the C-130 U.S. military plane and expected arrival of two large helicopters extra special coverage.
Media and defense sources note that the arrival of the U.S. military's humanitarian mission is a first for the island since the U.S. broke off ties with Taipei in 1979 and switched recognition to Beijing.
Beijing typically loudly protests such contacts between the U.S. and the island's military, because it claims the self-ruled island is part of its own territory.
Emile Sheng, a political science professor at Taiwan's Soochow University, says such protest is unlikely this time, given
