The White House’s 2025 fiscal budget proposal, released on Monday, includes a US$100 million request to assist Taiwan in enhancing deterrence capabilities, and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The funding would help the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development bolster and expand Taiwan’s collaboration with international partners, the department said in a statement.
It described the US$100 million request as a “historic investment in Taiwan’s security” through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) mechanism “to strengthen deterrence and maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Photo: Reuters
The request comes after US President Joe Biden signed off on a US$80 million grant through the FMF in November last year to bolster Taiwan’s military capabilities.
US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma said it was “historic” because it would create a dedicated funding item for Taiwan.
“We break out Taiwan for the first time and have a specific line item for it. It reaffirms our commitment to security assistance for Taiwan, and to a free and open Indo-Pacific. I think it’s very clear. I think it stands on its own,” Verma said.
Regarding whether the funding would provide for a permanent training mission for US special forces in Taiwan, Verma said he did not think so, adding that it was just “traditional security assistance.”
“There’s also IMET [International Military Education and Training] assistance, and again, you have to read that together with the totality of our assistance in the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the new mandatory funding we’ve also added,” he said.
IMET is intended to establish rapport between the US military and those of other nations to build alliances.
In a separate budget overview released by the US Department of Defense, its proposal includes a US$500 million request to replenish US weapons stocks in Taiwan using the Presidential Drawdown Authority.
The “first-time funding request” would “address aggression in the region and ensure continued support to our allies,” while enabling the Pentagon to replace its inventory of “munitions and equipment and maintain readiness,” the defense department said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it plans to revise the export control list for strategic high-tech products by adding 18 items under three categories — advanced 3D printing equipment, advanced semiconductor equipment and quantum computers — which would require local manufacturers to obtain licenses for their export. The ministry’s announcement yesterday came as the International Trade Administration issued a 60-day preview period for planned revisions to the Export Control List for Dual Use Items and Technology (軍商兩用貨品及技術出口管制清單) and the Common Military List (一般軍用貨品清單), which fall under regulations governing export destinations for strategic high-tech commodities and specific strategic high-tech commodities. The
RSS