The US military aid to Taiwan worth $345m would be great support for the self-ruled island that China is claiming.
The US military aid to Taiwan would contain “defense articles,” as well as military education and training, according to a statement issued by US President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday.
The White House announcement did not go into detail about the weaponry or equipment that will be given, but media sites quoting anonymous officials said that the US military aid to Taiwan would include portable air defense systems, small arms munitions, and reconnaissance equipment.
The declaration drew a sharp condemnation from Beijing, which has pledged to use force to “reunify” democratically administered Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.
US lawmakers have been putting pressure on the Pentagon and the White House to get weapons to Taiwan as soon as possible. The goals are to assist it in countering China and to prevent China from considering an assault by giving Taipei enough armament to make the invasion too expensive.
Taiwan’s trade office in Washington said the U.S. decision to remove weapons and other supplies from its stores provided “an important tool to support Taiwan’s self-defense,” and it vowed to cooperate with the United States to uphold “peace, stability, and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” despite Chinese diplomats objecting to the action.
The recent US military aid to Taiwan is in addition to nearly $19 billion in military sales of F-16s and other major weapons systems that the U.S. has approved for Taiwan. The delivery of those weapons has been hindered by supply chain challenges that began during the COVID-19 outbreak and have been compounded by global defense industrial base pressures caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The distinction is that this support is part of a presidential power given by Congress last year to draw weapons from current US military stockpiles — meaning Taiwan will not have to wait for military manufacturing and sales. This expedites the delivery of weapons rather than providing cash for new weaponry.
The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine.
In deference to Beijing, the United States maintains a “One China” policy in which it does not recognize Taiwan’s formal independence and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island. However, under US law, Taiwan must have a credible defense and the US must take all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern.”
Getting US military aid to Taiwan, before an attack, is one of the lessons the US has learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Pentagon deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks earlier this year.
While Washington does favor Taiwanese independence as part of its “One China” policy, US law mandates it to support the island’s defense, which has a contested status due to the defeated Kuomintang’s retreat to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war.
In recent years, Washington has granted billions of dollars of US military aid to Taiwan, including an $8 billion deal to send 66 F-16 fighter fighters by 2026. The US military aid to Taiwan is a great assistance for the self-ruled island to protect itself from potential outside attack.
Biden’s support for Taiwan and Tsai Ing-wen’s pro-independence administration has heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, which has accused the US of turning the island into a “powder keg.”
In order for the self-ruled island to be protected from any outside threats, US military aid to Taiwan would be a great help.