The US Department of Defense intends to allocate US$850 million for the US Indo-Pacific Command to replenish weapons stockpiles used for military aid to Taiwan, an unclassified department spending plan delivered to the US Congress on Monday showed.
The funds would be sourced from the US$152 billion the department obtained through a reconciliation bill passed last year, the report said.
The funds are to be used to strengthen joint task forces’ combat capabilities and to purchase new equipment to replace equipment being provided to Taiwan, it said.
Photo: Reuters
The decision to use existing stockpiles to support Taiwan stemmed from the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, which authorizes the US to provide Taiwan with equipment from the defense department’s stocks to accelerate the pace of deliveries.
“US arms transfers have been the most concrete US contribution to Taiwan’s defense capabilities. Most of these transfers are Foreign Military Sales (FMS)... From 2015 to 2025, the executive branch notified Congress of more than US$39 billion in FMS to Taiwan. The executive branch has announced three PDA [Presidential Drawdown Authority] packages for Taiwan totaling US$1.5 billion,” to date, a US Congressional Research Service report published on Feb. 3 said.
Separately, a US Department of State strategic plan for this year through 2030 states that “how the US responds to the rise of China will be defining story of the 21st century,” and is key to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The US must establish a favorable military balance in the Indo-Pacific to keep the trade routes free and open and to deter aggression,” the report said, while citing China’s unprecedented military buildup in the region over the past decade.
“The [state] department will work to deepen relationships with allies,” and encourage increased defense spending, invest in deterrence measures, and allow the US military greater access to critical infrastructure and resources, it said.
The US maintains a strong interest in a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and desires neither war nor regime change, it said, adding that the US would consistently seek open lines of communication with China, and the means to reduce misunderstandings and risks.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
RSS