Taiwan pleas US for $14B arm sale package for | Political News

Taiwan must purchase American weaponry to safeguard its self-defense against an escalating menace from Beijing, according to the island’s main diplomat in the U.S., who famous no shift in Washington’s method toward the self-governing territory that China regards as half of its area.

A $14-billion arms deal package for Taiwan stays stalled after Donald Trump‘s return from Beijing in May, when he revealed he had mentioned the proposal “in great detail” with Chinese chief Xi Jinping, sparking unease in Taiwan and drawing concern from Capitol Hill legislators.

“We need those arms for defensive purposes,” Alexander Yui Tah-ray, who leads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., told The Associated Press during a Wednesday interview in Washington.”We’re trying to increase our defense expenditure. We try to increase our ability to defend ourselves better and survive times of crisis.”

The United States, related to most nations, doesn’t formally acknowledge Taiwan as an impartial nation. China prohibits any nation with which it maintains diplomatic relations from establishing official ties with Taipei.

Yet the U.S. stays the island’s most highly effective casual supporter and weapons provider.

While Yui doesn’t maintain the formal title of ambassador to the U.S., he serves as Taiwan’s chief consultant in Washington. The Trump administration has yet to proceed with the $14 billion weapons sale proposal that obtained approval from senior lawmakers earlier this 12 months.

Trump has characterised the sale as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

Under home law, Washington is required to provide Taiwan with satisfactory {hardware} to stop aggression from China, which asserts sovereignty over the island and pledges to take it by drive if needed to obtain what it views as reunification. Beijing has constantly objected to U.S. arms gross sales to Taiwan, which has never been ruled by China’s communist regime.

Yui emphasised that Taiwan acknowledges its obligation to shield its own territory.

“This is our responsibility, so we will not wait and depend for the U.S. cavalry to come and save us,” he said. “That’s why we’re willing to acquire, to buy U.S. equipment and arms to make ourselves stronger.”

Yui pressured that the weapons gross sales must be “commensurate” to the menace degree, which is “actually pretty high” from China.

“First and foremost, we’re not the aggressors. It is the People’s Republic of China who is sending all the planes and ships,” he said. “They’re the ones huffing and puffing. They are the ones who’s trying to annihilate our freedom and democracy in Taiwan.”

China deploys warships and army plane close to Taiwan nearly daily and has staged major army drills around the island in current years. Beijing views the island as a basic precedence and has condemned supporters of Taiwanese independence for fueling tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Yui emphasised that the U.S. stance on Taiwan stays unchanged and that the Taiwanese authorities will honor the Trump administration’s “tempo” in releasing statements.

The arms sale enjoys widespread backing in Congress, with legislators expressing considerations to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a listening to this month. Rubio confirmed that U.S. coverage relating to Taiwan has not shifted and that Washington doesn’t “consult with the Chinese on these arms deals.

“We’re conscious of their place. They discuss about it all the time,” Rubio said of Beijing. “They aren’t negotiated, and they don’t seem to be consulted.”

Rubio explained the proposal wasn’t delayed but remains under evaluation, with the administration considering additional factors.

“It contains the provision of the shares in the short time period,” Rubio said of U.S. weapons inventories, which have been depleted during the Iran war. “We have to stability that with our own procurement course of.”

The administration did greenlight a separate $11 billion arms sale package to Taiwan in December featuring high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te told reporters on Thursday his administration sustains regular communication with the U.S.

“We hope the arms buy from the U.S. may be authorized as soon as potential,” he said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian described it as “a useless end” for the Taiwanese government to pursue independence through U.S. support and military force.

“China’s opposition to American arms gross sales to Taiwan is constant and clear,” he stated.

Yui took up his post in Washington in late 2023 under Joe Biden‘s presidency. Biden had repeatedly declared he would deploy troops to the island should Beijing launch an attack.

Currently, Yui is managing the unpredictability of the second Trump administration, which has adopted a more conciliatory approach toward Beijing after an intense trade war marked by tit-for-tat tariffs.

While Trump has raised eyebrows by ignoring a Reagan-era promise not to agree to prior consultation with Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan, he also said he could call Taiwan’s President Lai, breaking a longstanding tradition that no sitting U.S. president has directly communicated with the island’s leader.

In its national defense strategy released in January, the Pentagon stated it aims to deter China through strength rather than confrontation. It indicates the U.S. “will construct, posture, and maintain a strong denial protection” along a strategic line of islands, including Taiwan, to keep China out of the wider Pacific Ocean.

Yui attributed what seems to be mixed messages to Trump’s outside-of-the-box style but voiced confidence in Taiwan-U.S. relations.

“It’s important to look at the actions, what is occurring, not just the rhetoric,” Yui said. “The big stick is still there.”