Republican members of the US Congress’ foreign relations and defense committees have penned a letter to US President Joe Biden asking him to ramp up military aid to Taiwan, according to a US media outlet familiar with the contents of the missive.
The letter was reportedly authored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, as well as Senator Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers, Republican leaders of the Senate and House armed service committees, respectively.
“Using every authority, we must arm and equip Taiwan to make it a stronger and more capable partner — which will only help the United States’ national and economic security,” the politicians declared in their letter.
They also argued that the United States “must be willing to accept the tension that comes with supporting Taiwan.”
As the media outlet points out, in December the US Congress did authorize foreign military aid financing for Taiwan – $2 billion per year – but that money comes in the form of “US-backed loans,” and the letter’s authors claim that “without FMF grants, loans are not enough to address the scale of this challenge.”
“Your administration’s actions, including delaying congressional notifications of arms sales to Congress, engaging Congress with a narrow focus on FMF loans to Taiwan and refusing to provide information on Taiwan’s defense needs requested by Congress are not helping our ability to help Taiwan defend its territory,” the letter states.
The United States’ support of Taiwan has waxed in recent months, with Washington appearing eager to send more and more weapons to the island under the pretext of some sort of threat allegedly posed by China.
Even though the United States formally adheres to the so-called One China Policy, i.e. recognizes Taiwan as part of China rather than some sort of an independent entity, it has not deterred the US from eagerly funneling weapons to the island, despite the fact that Beijing has repeatedly declared its intent to reintegrate Taiwan through strictly peaceful means.
Recently, however, US defense contractors have warned that the plans to arm Taiwan may hit a snag as the United States keeps sending more and more weapons to a different part of the globe – Ukraine.
Last summer, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an official visit to Taiwan, with the US leadership pointedly ignoring the protests of the Chinese side – a move that did little to improve Sino-US relations.
China has not left these US moves unanswered: Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was followed by a massive Chinese military exercise near the island, which effectively halted maritime traffic in the area for some time.
In February, Beijing imposed sanctions against US defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over their arms sales to Taiwan, barring them from engaging in importing to, exporting to or investing in China.
Last year, China also sanctioned Raytheon and Boeing Defense, Space & Security over the companies’ intent to provide Taiwan with weapons.