The US’ contribution to Taiwan’s military capability increased this week to US$480 million in combined grants that can be spent directly in the US and drawdowns from US inventories, documents showed.
The US Department of State on Monday notified lawmakers that it was increasing by US$55 million the amount of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) that Taiwan can spend.
The funds were shifted from money meant for Egypt. That is on top of US$80 million in FMF funding for Taiwan that the administration notified the US Congress about on Aug. 31.
Photo: AFP / the Ministry of National Defense
Washington has previously allowed the funding mechanism to be used only by select major allies such as Israel and Egypt.
The White House announced in late July the first ever drawdown from US inventories for Taiwan of US$345 million in equipment and arms, which it did not itemize.
The State Department’s justification documents said that the FMF funding could be used to buy equipment ranging from air and coastal defense systems, rocket artillery, a widely used US air defense and counter-rocket system called C-RAM and counter-drone systems to equipment for soldiers and small arms.
The FMF funding was authorized for Taiwan in this year’s defense policy bill and allow as much as US$2 billion a year to be appropriated through 2027.
However, some lawmakers remain unhappy with the actual amounts offered to date.
“The [US President Joe] Biden administration’s decision to provide US$55 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan is a pittance compared to Taiwan’s enormous needs for self-defense and the United States’ clear national interest in supporting Taipei,” US Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
The US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee is to convene a hearing on Tuesday regarding defense cooperation with Taiwan with witnesses from the Pentagon and the State Department.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS