A bipartisan group of senators is pressing President Trump to move ahead with a long-delayed $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan, a critical test of the administration’s commitment to the island ahead of Mr. Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping of China later this week.
In a letter sent on Friday, the lawmakers urged the president to formally notify Congress of the arms package and argued that Taipei’s recent approval of a new military spending plan removed any remaining rationale for delay. Senior lawmakers offered early approval to the package in January, but it has stalled in the State Department for months, raising broader questions about the administration’s approach to Taiwan and its effort to recalibrate relations with Beijing.
Administration officials have told some involved in the approval of the sale that the White House directed the hold to ensure that Mr. Trump had a successful meeting with Mr. Xi.
“Ahead of your summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, we urge you and your team to make clear that America’s support for Taiwan is inviolable,” the senators wrote. They also warned against allowing support for the self-governing island, which Beijing has threatened to take by force, to become a bargaining chip in broader economic or diplomatic talks with China.
“American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation,” they wrote.
The letter was signed by eight senators: the Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Chris Coons of Delaware, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Andy Kim of New Jersey and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and the Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah.
On Friday, Taiwan’s lawmakers approved a $25 billion special defense budget, overcoming their own domestic political divisions as well as sustained pressure from Beijing to fund what Taiwanese officials have described as urgently needed deterrence measures.
Much of that funding is expected to be used to purchase American defensive weapons systems, including technology to counter drones and medium-range munitions. But the sale cannot move forward until the Trump administration formally transmits the package to Congress. Another portion will be used to purchase weapons that were part of a different package approved by both Congress and the White House late last year.
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While support for Taiwan has long had strong backing in Congress, lawmakers in both parties have grown uneasy in Mr. Trump’s second term over what some say are mixed signals from the White House.
Mr. Trump approved the arms package framework last year, but its formal notification has languished even as China has intensified military pressure around Taiwan and as administration officials have publicly encouraged Taipei to increase its own military spending.
In their letter, the senators wrote that the vote in Taiwan’s legislature last week showed a positive response to such pressure.
“Just as Taiwan’s leaders demonstrated unity in support of their people’s defense, so too must we move ahead with pending U.S. arms sales vital to our own national interests,” the group wrote.
Mr. Curtis and Ms. Shaheen led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in March that also included Mr. Tillis and Ms. Rosen. They met with President Lai Ching-te and other senior government officials while the defense funding was being debated in their legislature. Mr. Curtis said at the time that the funding represented a response to the “capability gaps that Taiwan needs to deter and, if necessary, defeat China,” drawing immediate condemnation from Chinese officials.
At the end of that trip, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China opposed official interactions between the United States and Taiwanese officials.
“China’s position on the Taiwan question is consistent and clear,” she said. “We will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
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