A US college professor has said that Washington’s “America First Arms Transfer Strategy” is good for Taiwan, but warned that continued delays in passing defense budgets could jeopardize Taiwan’s priority partner status.
Michael Hunzeker, an associate professor at George Mason University who studies Taiwanese defense issues, said in an e-mail to the Central News Agency that “overall, I think that this new strategy is a positive development for Taiwan.”
Hunzeker was referring to US President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order titled “Establishing an America First Arms Transfer Strategy” on Friday.
Photo: CNA
The presidential action marks a policy shift toward prioritizing US arms sales and transfers to partners with higher defense spending and greater strategic importance, replacing the long-standing first-come, first-served delivery approach.
Hunzeker said the policy addresses long-standing inefficiencies in US arms sales, noting that in the past, when multiple allies purchased the same weapons systems, defense contractors did not always produce and deliver them in line with Washington’s priorities.
He said the US$11 billion arms sales package for Taiwan announced in December was likely negotiated with this approach in mind and that delivery would probably be sped up if the Legislative Yuan approved the budget.
Hunzeker said Taiwan appears to meet Washington’s criteria as a “priority” partner, citing its prominence in US strategic planning and President William Lai’s (賴清德) public commitment to raise Taiwan’s defense spending.
Lai has said Taiwan’s defense spending is expected to rise to 3.3 percent of GDP this year and that the government aims to increase that to 5 percent by 2030.
Hunzeker said that the US executive branch and US Congress are “clearly unhappy” that Taiwan’s regular defense budget and special defense budget have been blocked in the Legislative Yuan.
He said the Trump administration places strong emphasis on defense burden sharing and expects allies and partners to “pull their own weight,” warning that Taiwan could be excluded from the priority list if budgets sufficient to cover the arms sales are not approved.
US lawmakers raised concerns in recent days over Taiwan’s opposition parties blocking a special defense bill allocating NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.5 billion).
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party, said in response that it supports reasonable arms procurement budgets and asked the American Institute in Taiwan to accurately convey its position to the US Congress.
The KMT said it would immediately review the defense budget with the Taiwan People’s Party if the Democratic Progressive Party-led government would approve pay raises for military personnel.
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