Taiwan is concerned about delays in the delivery of weapons by Washington, US Representative Mike Gallagher told US media following a visit to Taiwan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) yesterday said Gallagher met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) during his visit from Friday last week to Monday.
Gallagher chairs the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
Photo: AP
Presidential Office spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka confirmed Tsai’s meeting with Gallagher, adding that Taiwan welcomes visits by international friends, and hopes to work with them to safeguard democracy, freedom and peace.
In an interview with the Washington Post published on Wednesday, Gallagher said every Taiwanese official he met said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made Taiwan realize the need to acquire and stockpile advanced weapons.
Taiwanese leaders are concerned about delays in arms deliveries from the US, he said.
“I think that’s unacceptable,” Gallagher said.
Taiwan faces a US$19 billion arms backlog, including crucial weapons such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles and F-16 jets, the Post reported, quoting one congressional aide as saying that Harpoons “aren’t likely to begin arriving in real numbers until 2027 at the earliest.”
Gallagher said he hopes the committee can help push the US to “arm Taiwan to the teeth,” as it is “our best chance of preventing an invasion of Taiwan, and of essentially preventing World War III.”
Taiwan is “doing everything we could ask of them” to boost its own defense, such as increasing defense spending to 2.4 percent of its GDP, he said.
Gallagher reiterated similar views in an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, saying the US “must do a better job of countering the [Chinese] Communist Party’s malign influence operations in Taiwan,” including clearing the backlog of military sales.
“Repression is spreading outward all around the periphery of China — Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong. The darkness presses beyond China’s borders, slithering into multinational institutions, over the Internet, throughout the global financial system. Against the darkness stands a candle that burns freely, fiercely, improbably in opposition: Taiwan,” he added.
Speaking about US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s plan to visit Taipei, Gallagher said he was not aware of any active plans for the trip, but added: “If he wants to go, he certainly can.”
Gallagher said he plans to hold a select committee hearing in Taiwan by summer and report the findings to McCarthy, who can then make his plans with better information.
Gallagher and US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries might visit Taiwan after the presidential election early next year, he added.
The foreign ministry has not received information about a possible hearing or McCarthy’s visit to Taiwan, but welcomes visits by US lawmakers, Liu said, adding that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US would keep in close contact with the US Congress about related plans.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2