Legislative Speaker You Si-kun on Monday was visiting the US Capitol, where he was planning to meet with members of a committee focused on competition with China as the administration of US President Joe Biden readies a US$500 million fast-tracked weapons package for Taiwan.
You was due to meet with members of the US House of Representatives Committee on Competition with China to discuss deepening economic and security ties, said a person familiar with the plans who discussed them on Monday on condition of anonymity.
US Representative Mike Gallagher, the committee’s chair, said in a statement that the US needs to “arm Taiwan to the teeth” to head off a potential invasion by China. Lawmakers have pushed the Biden administration to free up a backlog of US weapons sales.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“The United States needs to deliver on our promises and clear the US$19 billion weapons backlog to Taiwan, conduct enhanced joint military training and reinforce our military posture throughout the region,” Gallagher said in a statement. “Deterring war is the only path to peace and stability, and it is incumbent upon elected officials to take decisive action to do so before it’s too late.”
Biden is looking to do so — possibly this week — with a US$500 million weapons package for Taiwan, people familiar with the plans said.
The administration plans to send weapons and support equipment from existing US stockpiles under what is known as the Presidential Drawdown Authority. It is the same fast-track authority the US has used to arm Ukraine.
China has protested past meetings between US and Taiwanese officials, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in California last month and a trip by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan last year.
You on Monday morning was seen leaving McCarthy’s suite of offices at the Capitol, but McCarthy said he had not met with the speaker personally.
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