《TAIPEI TIMES》 US senators seek US$2bn per year for arming Taiwan

/ Reuters, WASHINGTON

US senators on Thursday introduced draft legislation seeking to provide US$2 billion per year and other assistance to bolster’s Taiwan’s defenses as it faces rising pressure from China.

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The legislation, reviewed by Reuters, would authorize US$2 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing — US grants and loans that enable countries to purchase weapons and defense equipment produced in the US — through 2032 for Taiwan.

While the bill is sponsored only by Republicans, the minority party in the US Senate, it adds to pressure from the US Congress on US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, for bolder action to strengthen ties with Taiwan.

The US is Taiwan’s main military supplier.

The bill’s lead sponsor is US Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Cosponsors include US senators Mike Crapo, John Cornyn, Bill Hagerty, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.

It was not immediately clear how Democrats view the bill.

The funding would come with conditions, including Taiwan committing to match US spending, and whether Taipei and Washington agree to conduct joint long-range planning for capacity development.

The US has urged Taiwan to pursue defense reforms to focus on capabilities to make its military forces more mobile and harder to attack, as well as to ensure it maintains a strong reserve force.

The draft “Taiwan deterrence act” also would amend the US’ Arms Export Control Act, which governs foreign military sales, to make it easier for US firms to sell arms to Taiwan.

It also would require an annual assessment of Taiwan’s efforts to advance defense strategy toward China.

The bill also seeks to improve military exchanges with Taiwan, and expand professional military education and technical training opportunities in the US for Taiwanese military personnel.

“The defense of Taiwan is critical to retaining the credibility of the United States as a defender of the democratic values and free-market principles embodied by the people and government of Taiwan,” the bill says.

In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement thanking the senators for introducing the bill, adding that it would continue to follow the progress of the draft bill closely.

The ministry said that “it will maintain close contact with friends in the US Congress to pragmatically and steadily deepen Taiwan-US security cooperation.”

During President Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） first term in office, which mostly coincided with former US president Donald Trump’s four years in office, Taiwan spent US$16.8 billion to buy US weapons, nearly as much as the US$20 billion it spent during the eight years of former US president Barack Obama’s two terms.

In 2019 and last year, the amount Taiwan spent annually on purchasing US weapons was three times as much as the average spent each year during the Obama years.

It was unclear whether Taiwan initiated a request for funding assistance or whether the senators are hoping this offer would spur Taipei to spend more on defense and buy more US weapons.

Additional reporting by CNA

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES