The administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing a US$500 million weapons package for Taiwan, using a fast-track authority that it has relied on to speed arms to Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said.
Plans for the package involve sending stockpiles of US weapons or support equipment to Taiwan under what is known as a Presidential Drawdown Authority, the people said on the condition of anonymity.
The equipment in the package was not immediately known.
Photo: Reuters
Using a drawdown enables the US to sidestep the often lengthy process of contracting and producing weapons, which has resulted in what lawmakers say is a US$19 billion backlog in armaments that have been approved but not yet delivered to Taiwan. It has not been used before to send weapons to Taiwan.
The US Congress authorized Biden to use as much as US$1 billion in US inventory for Taiwan in the National Defense Authorization Act, and lawmakers have criticized the administration for being slow to use that authority.
Congress did not appropriate funds to replace the equipment, so the Pentagon would have to seek that money later.
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Martin Meiners said that the Presidential Drawdown Authority was authorized last year “to deliver vital security assistance in support of Taiwan’s self-defense.”
The administration’s approach remains “consistent with longstanding US policy as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act,” Meiners said.
The Biden administration and its allies have grown increasingly concerned about the pace of China’s military modernization, and some have warned that Chinese leadership wants its armed forces to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027.
However, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines have said they do not foresee an imminent effort by China to seize Taiwan by force.
“My team is working diligently to make sure that we have the right capabilities in that particular drawdown,” Austin said in March in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, adding that “we’ll need the appropriations as well” to replace that equipment.
American Enterprise Institute nonresident fellow Eric Sayers said the money is “a good start, but I expect the Congress will push for the administration to use the full US$1 billion they authorized.”
“This should be viewed as a good first step to use these new authorities to begin to expeditiously address shortfalls in cross-strait deterrence,” Sayers added.
In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is always happy to receive assistance from partner countries.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said that Taiwan’s ability to fend off an attack is essential to preventing one in the first place, and that defense capabilities must be bolstered.
Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the US$500 million could purchase 3,000 FGM-148 Javelin missiles, 6,000 FIM-92 Stinger missiles, 500 Harpoon missiles or 120 PAC-3 missiles.
This would swiftly shore up Taiwan’s defense capabilities, he said.
Retired air force general Chang Yan-ting (張延廷) said the funds would probably be spent on uncrewed aerial vehicles, attendant equipment, or Stinger and Javelin missiles that comply with asymmetric warfare doctrine.
China last month staged war games around Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.
Taiwan has since last year criticized delays to US weapon deliveries, such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers turned their supplies to the war in Ukraine.
The issue has concerned some US lawmakers.
Additional reporting by Tsai Yun-jung, CNA and Reuters
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique