Sun, Sep 22, 2024 page1

• US closes in on US$567m defense deal for Taiwan: report

  MORE FUNDS: The package is almost double last year’s US$345 million, and the Biden administration is likely to approve it before the end of this month, a report said

  • By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer
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  The US is to soon approve a US$567 million security aid package to Taiwan, the largest such package ever, Defense News reported yesterday.

  Citing multiple US congressional aides, the Web site of the magazine said that the US is to expedite the delivery of arms to Taiwan by drawing them from its stockpile, the fastest method that Washington has to deliver the package.

  The US has “heavily relied” on the method to support Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, it said.

  

  The Pentagon in Washington is pictured on March 3, 2022.

  Photo: Reuters

  The Pentagon has approved the package, and it is now on US President Joe Biden’s desk, it said.

  The security aid deal is almost double last year’s package of US$345 million, and the Biden administration is likely to approve it before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, the magazine said, citing an aide and an official speaking on condition of anonymity.

  The new package would “fund training, stockpiles, anti-armor weapons and multidomain awareness,” it cited an unnamed US official as saying.

  Drones, a key component in the asymmetric warfare strategy of Taiwan, would also be included in the package, Defense News said.

  The US Department of Defense and US National Security Council declined to comment.

  “We have no comment on this matter. Taiwan will continue to enhance defense capabilities and closely work with the United States so as to actively uphold peace, stability and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific region,” a spokesperson for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office was quoted as saying.

  Although the US Congress gave the Biden administration the authority to send Taiwan up to US$1 billion of equipment from its own stockpile, US lawmakers did not give the Pentagon a budget to do so, and the US military has been reluctant to hand Taipei arms it cannot easily replace, Defense News said.

  Last year, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin halted military aid to Taiwan after debating the possibility of an additional package, citing a lack of funds, in a seeming clash with the White House and the US Department of State, it said.

  In April, the US Congress approved a US$1.9 billion budget to replenish the US military stockpile, enabling the Pentagon to start working on new “drawdowns” of defense articles for Taiwan, it said.

  The Pentagon initially planned a smaller aid package, but following pressures from other departments, it increased the amount, it said.

  The US Department of Defense is also working on a separate arms package that is planned to be completed before Biden steps down in January next year, the magazine cited an official as saying.

  On Wednesday last week, the department’s Office of Inspector General published a scathing report on the first round of the Pentagon’s arms deliveries to Taiwan last year, saying that items arrived late due to shipping issues, with some covered in mold and others expired.

  The “delivery of non-mission-capable items inhibits the [defense department’s] ability to achieve established security cooperation goals and may lead to loss of partner confidence in the United States,” Defense News quoted the report as saying.

  In Taipei, Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Taipei-based Association of Strategic Foresight, said that assuming the US prioritizes supporting Ukraine over Taiwan, Taipei should expect the bulk of equipment to be composed of conventional weapons, not the arms suited for asymmetric warfare.

  Ukrainian armed forces’ heavy consumption of Stinger missiles suggests that the US would not deliver them to Taiwan and send less advanced standard missile air defense systems instead, Chien said.

  The anti-armor weapons and drones mentioned in the report were likely references to various single-soldier operable anti-tank missiles and rocket systems, and General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drones, he said.

  The US is facing challenges that prevent it from fully supplying Taiwan with the arms it needs, a situation Taipei and Washington should jointly address by organizing a plan for aid packages, he said.

  The US program to train Taiwanese troops in the US is a boon to Taiwan’s efforts to improve military training, as the nation has a shortage of training centers and other facilities, he said.

  The US military’s provision of ammunition for Taiwanese trainees is also a significant benefit that reduces the costs of stockpiling and transporting ammo for drills, Chieh said.

  Additional reporting by Wu Che-yu
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