Taiwan has urged the Trump administration to speed up delivery of a delayed $14 billion weapons package….reports Asian Lite News Desk
Taiwan has urged the Trump administration to expedite a delayed $14 billion weapons package, saying its ability to deter potential Chinese aggression depends on maintaining strong defence capabilities.
Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Alexander Yui, made the appeal after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping gave limited public attention to Taiwan during their summit in Washington.
Trump said Taiwan had been raised during his discussions with Xi, but indicated that the issue did not occupy much of their talks.
Yui told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Taiwan was not mentioned in statements released by either Washington or Beijing following the summit.
“It was not the main topic of discussion,” Yui said. “As a matter of fact, during the released statements by both sides on the deliverables or the achievements, Taiwan does not figure in neither side of the papers.”
Beijing has described Taiwan as a foundational issue in its relationship with Washington. Yui said the US had made clear that its position towards Taiwan had not changed.
“The United States made it very clear that no change in position towards Taiwan,” he said.
Yui also referred to a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea before Xi’s visit. He said the three countries had backed peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and opposed coercion.
Attention has since turned to a $14 billion weapons package that has been approved by Congress but is awaiting action by Trump. Taiwan has already paid for the arms, according to CNN’s “State of the Union”.
Yui said the weapons were intended to strengthen deterrence and prevent conflict rather than provoke confrontation.
“This purchase or this sale actually is peace through strength is the best way to avoid any conflict,” he said. “The notion that China will not attack Taiwan is on the basis that Taiwan is strong.”
He said Taiwan was increasing its defence budget and wanted to assume more of the financial burden of protecting itself. The US remains Taiwan’s main supplier of military equipment.
“We hope that we can get that weapons in as soon as possible,” Yui said.
Several Republican senators have also questioned why more than $1 billion in additional assistance has yet to be delivered, CBS reported.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz attributed delays in weapons deliveries to pressure on the US defence industrial base.
“There is a huge backlog of arms, and a lot of this is about our industrial base and being able to produce not only what they are requesting, but what the Europeans are requesting,” Waltz told CNN.
Waltz said Washington also needed to take into account the requirements of the US military and competing demands from other countries. He said the Trump administration had authorised more arms sales to Taiwan during its first year than the previous administration had approved during its entire term, but did not provide a date for presidential approval of the $14 billion package.
Yui also highlighted Taiwan’s role in the global technology sector, particularly its production of advanced semiconductors used in artificial intelligence systems, servers and other critical technologies.
“Taiwan has been the relevant partner in terms of technology, in terms of semiconductors especially,” he said.
Taiwan governs itself, while Beijing claims the island as part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to establish control. The US does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei but is legally committed to helping Taiwan maintain its ability to defend itself.
