Congress Seeks To Quickly Arm Taiwan As China S Threat Grows

Comment With lessons learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in mind, Congress is pushing to arm and train Taiwan ahead of any potential military attack by China, but whether the aid materializes could depend on President Biden himself . Talks of an unprecedented multibillion-dollar military aid package to the self-ruled island republic come as Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Bali on Monday, with maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait a top topic of discussion. The bipartisan effort would allow the U.S. military to immediately dip into its own stockpile of weapons such as Javelins and Stingers — something done on that scale only for Ukraine, officials said — and provide weapons for the first time to Taiwan through the foreign exchange program. military funding, paid for by the United States. Through these provisions, Taiwan could receive weapons and equipment such as anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-aircraft defense systems, self-exploding drones, naval mines, command and control systems and secure radios. The idea is essentially to do for Taipei what is done for Kyiv — but before the bullets start flying, lawmakers said. “One of the lessons of Ukraine is that you have to arm your partners before the shooting starts, and that gives you the best chance of avoiding war in the first place,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a Marine. veteran serving on the House Armed Services Committee. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said in September on a Bloomberg show that “there remains a clear threat that there could be a military contingency around Taiwan.” China plans to take over Taiwan on a “much faster schedule,” says Blinken Democratic leaders of the House and Senate support provisions to arm Taipei, but it is not clear that the lawmakers who control the purse strings — the Appropriations committees — are convinced of the need to allocate resources. Currently, there is no money for this package in the 2023 budget proposal that Congress is trying to pass, and if private individuals cannot find cuts to cover gun aid, Biden will have to make an emergency request to fund the spending on Taiwan and support why it is necessary, congressional aides say. Administration officials declined to say whether they would do so. “Our engagement with Congress has focused on ensuring that legislation moving forward is clearly consistent with our policy framework that has helped maintain peace and stability in [Taiwan] Straight,” said a senior administration official who, like several others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The aid package, the details of which are now being finalized in the National Defense Authorization Act that must be passed, has been put together with input from the White House, congressional aides said. It would allow the provision to Taiwan of $1 billion worth of stockpiled US munitions – what is known as “presidential withdrawal authority” – and up to $2 billion worth of weapons annually for five years paid for with US tax dollars. Only Israel gets more on an annual basis. Congressional supporters say the aid would be consistent with the United States’ obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act, which states it is US policy to provide arms to Taiwan to enable its self-defense. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the goal is “to make the Taiwanese a formidable military force that can defend themselves, like the Ukrainians, or at least make it very difficult for the People’s Liberation Army to attack them ». But skeptics question whether the aid will advance Taiwan’s defense capabilities in the near future. The proposed aid comes at a difficult time. China has stepped up provocative military maneuvers in the waters and skies near Taiwan since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taipei in August. It also recently concluded a landmark 20th Communist Party Congress, in which Xi secured an unprecedented third term as party general secretary and cemented his iron grip on power. Beijing claims Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory and says its goal is “peaceful reunification.” But at the party congress last month, Xi reiterated a pledge to “never commit to abandoning the use of force” to that end and said he was willing to “take all necessary measures” to do so. The Chinese Communist Party hands Xi a never-ending rule for flexing power US military leaders have warned for years about China’s growing threat in the region. In March 2021, Admiral Philip S. Davidson, then head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, noted during Senate testimony a series of alarming actions taken by China: a rapid and massive military build-up of ships, aircraft and long-range missiles. crackdowns in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet; border clashes with India; and militarization of islands in the disputed South China Sea. China has long said it wants to achieve great power status by its centenary in 2049. “Taiwan,” Davidson said in March 2021, “is clearly one of their ambitions before then, and I think the threat is evident over the course of this decade, in fact, over the next six years.” His remarks caused an uproar, with some observers interpreting them to mean China would invade by 2027. In an interview, Davidson said that while China could launch an attack, there are other ways Beijing could put pressure on Taiwan. “This could be a blockade, a missile barrage, deep cyber attacks on Taiwan’s infrastructure,” he said. “I think this is the decade of worry, and I’m still worried about the next six years.” Senator Sullivan, a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, said a military seizure or blockade of Taiwan by China would result in “enormous” damage to the global economy, particularly as it would affect the global supply chain for computer chips. Taiwan is the world’s leading supplier of advanced chips that power artificial intelligence and supercomputers. The Biden administration, which is seeking to “manage responsibly” its relationship with Beijing, is treading carefully when it comes to Taiwan. When Pelosi planned to travel to Taiwan in August, the Biden administration made a strong push behind the scenes, arguing that a visit by such a senior US official so close to the party convention would be seen as provocative and an affront to Beijing. However, when Xi himself asked Biden to find a way to prevent her, Biden said he could not oblige, as Congress is an independent branch of government. Shortly after Pelosi’s visit, Beijing imposed some trade sanctions on Taiwan and stepped up military exercises in the waters surrounding the island. It simulated a blockade and sent aircraft repeatedly across the “central line,” an unofficial barrier in the strait separating Taiwan and China that for decades was seen as a stabilizing feature — actions that analysts say represent a shift from Beijing to status quo. Washington followed by announcing the start of talks on a formal trade deal with Taiwan, and in September announced its intention to sell $1.1 billion in arms to Taipei. This pack includes Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Such sales, however, generally take several years to deliver due to greater structural challenges arising from the way foreign military sales are completed. Biden Says US Troops Will Defend Taiwan If China Attacks Some congressional aides say the use of foreign military funding will not speed up arms deliveries. Others argue that with such a tool, the US government will be able to more quickly negotiate deals and make decisions about the direction of Taiwan’s defense strategy and how it fits with US military capabilities. The advantage of the withdrawal authority is speed — at least for weapons currently in the U.S. stockpile, including anti-tank Stingers and anti-ship cruise missiles, an aide said. A key difference with Ukraine is that Taiwan, as an island, would be more difficult to resupply in a conflict and can essentially only fight with what it has at its disposal when a conflict starts. “So the build-up and stockpiling of so many critical munitions in Taiwan — and generally west of the International Date Line — is the best chance to keep the peace and make Xi Jinping think twice,” Gallagher said. However, the debate over whether to fund the military aid package has not been resolved. “We need to be clear that we have broad support for any new initiative and what the compromises will be, especially at a time when senior Republicans are questioning whether we will maintain our support for Ukraine,” said a Democratic lawmaker familiar with the ongoing discussions. . Congress has traditionally been more aggressive in supporting Taiwan than presidential administrations. The military aid was part of a broader bill, the Taiwan Policy Act, that included several token provisions that the Biden team found unacceptable and that angered Beijing. That bill, co-sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (DN.J.) and ranking Republican James E. Risch (Idaho), for example, called for Taiwan to be designated a “major non-NATO ally ” aimed at expediting arms sales and renaming Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission” to the more official-sounding “Taiwan Mission”. The White House has lobbied hard to remove or reduce those provisions, but, congressional aides said, it has provided guidance on the military aid department. “There are elements of this legislation, about how we can enhance our security assistance to Taiwan, that are quite effective and strong enough that they will…