Members of Taiwan’s 564th Armored Brigade hold their flag after demonstrating their ability to repel an airborne attack near Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Jan. 11, 2023. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. lawmakers have asked counterparts in Taiwan to procure more American weapons and boost the island democracy’s production of drones and missile-defense systems.
The request to Taiwan legislators came in a letter Tuesday from Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, fellow Democrat Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Republicans John Curtis of Nevada and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The senators visited Taiwan’s legislature — the Legislative Yuan — on March 31 before stops in Tokyo and Seoul.
“While we advocate to build on the historic $11 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan announced last December, we ask that the LY approve a supplementary defense budget that enables not only procurement of American equipment but also speedier domestic production of asymmetric capabilities,” the senators wrote.
Taiwan must invest in defense capabilities to deter Chinese aggression, they said.
The letter follows an April 10 meeting in Beijing between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leader of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang party, Cheng Li-wun.
“Taiwan independence is the chief culprit that undermines peace across the Taiwan Strait, and we will never tolerate or condone it,” Xi told Cheng, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.
Congress will continue as an active guardian and steward of America’s partnership with Taiwan and of the island’s defense against “Beijing’s unrelenting coercion,” the senators wrote.
While the United States does not formally recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it maintains unofficial relations under the Taiwan Relations Act, which mandates the provision of arms “of a defensive nature” to Taiwan and a commitment to resist coercion against the island.
Taiwan lawmakers want Washington to sell the island counter-drone weapons, an integrated battle command system and medium-range munitions to enhance air defense, according to the letter.
“The United States Congress is fully committed to the timely delivery of critical capabilities to Taiwan and we expect that pending sales will be announced in the coming weeks,” the senators wrote.
The conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have proven the effectiveness of the sort of low-cost but dynamic systems that Taiwan is developing at the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, according to the letter.
“Beijing is testing the limits of what it can achieve through cross-strait military aggression and one-sided political outreach,” the senators wrote. “Nothing would send a stronger sign of resolve at this moment than for Taiwan to invest in long-term deterrence rooted in indigenous production.”
