The United States has announced $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, in what is the Biden administrationB次元官网网址檚 first major package drawing on AmericaB次元官网网址檚 own stockpiles to .
The White House said Friday (July 28) the package would include defense, education and training for the Taiwanese. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
U.S. lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to speed weapons to Taiwan. The goals are to help it counter China and to deter China from considering attacking, by providing Taipei enough weaponry that it would make the price of invasion too high.
While Chinese diplomats protested the move, TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 representative office in the U.S. said the administrationB次元官网网址檚 decision to pull arms and other materiel from its stores provided B次元官网网址渁n important tool to support TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 self-defense.B次元官网网址� In a statement, it pledged to work with the United States to maintain B次元官网网址減eace, stability and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.B次元官网网址�
TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 Ministry of National Defense also expressed its appreciation in a statement that thanked B次元官网网址渢he U.S. for its firm commitment to TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 security.B次元官网网址�
The package is in addition to nearly of F-16s and other major weapons systems that the U.S. has approved for Taiwan. Delivery of those weapons has been hampered by supply chain issues that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been exacerbated by the global defense industrial base pressures created by RussiaB次元官网网址檚 invasion of Ukraine.
The difference is that this aid is part of a presidential authority approved by Congress last year to draw weapons from current U.S. military stockpiles B次元官网网址� so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales. This gets weapons delivered faster than providing funding for new weapons.
The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine.
Taiwan split from China in 1949 amid civil war. Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains ChinaB次元官网网址檚 right to take over the now self-ruled island, by force if necessary. China has accused the U.S. of turning Taiwan into a B次元官网网址減owder kegB次元官网网址� through the billions of dollars in weapons sales it has pledged.
The U.S. maintains a B次元官网网址淥ne ChinaB次元官网网址� policy under which it TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 as an independent country and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island in deference to Beijing. However, U.S. law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the U.S. to treat all threats to the island as matters of B次元官网网址済rave concern.B次元官网网址�
Getting stockpiles of weapons to Taiwan now, before an attack begins, is one of the lessons the U.S. has learned from RussiaB次元官网网址檚 invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks told The Associated Press earlier this year.
Ukraine B次元官网网址渨as more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons,B次元官网网址� Hicks said. Efforts to resupply Taiwan after a conflict erupted would be complicated because it is an island, she said.
China regularly in the Taiwan Strait that provides a buffer between the sides, as well as into TaiwanB次元官网网址檚 air defense identification zone, in an effort to intimidate the islandB次元官网网址檚 23 million people and wear down its military capabilities.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in a statement that Beijing was B次元官网网址渇irmly opposedB次元官网网址� to U.S. military ties with Taiwan. The U.S. should B次元官网网址渟top selling arms to TaiwanB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渟top creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,B次元官网网址� Liu said.
Nomaan Merchant, Ellen Knickmeyer, Zeke Miller And Tara Copp, The Associated Press
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