A draft of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes billions in military aid for Taiwan, but Congress isn’t sure if the funds will be approved, Defense News reported on Thursday.
The funding includes $10 billion in the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program over five years, giving Taiwan $2 billion each year until 2027. It also includes $1 billion in annual presidential drawdown authority, which would allow the US to send Taiwan arms directly from US military stockpiles, the most common method the US is using to arm Taiwan.
While the funding for Taiwan is included in NDAA, members of Congress aren’t sure if it will get past the appropriations committees. Lawmakers say that in order to get the funds for Taiwan, cuts need to be made elsewhere and Democratic appropriators aren’t sure if they want to do that.
Democrats are particularly concerned about cutting the State Department’s budget to fit in the FMF for Taiwan, and it’s not clear if they would be willing to increase the department’s top line.
The State Department’s 2022 budget was $55 billion, including $6 billion for FMF, which Taiwan does not yet receive. The plan to give the island $2 billion in FMF would make it the second-highest recipient of the program behind Israel, which receives $3.3 billion in FMF each year.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are keen to begin unprecedented military aid for Taiwan, which will be a highly provocative move toward China, and will likely find a way. The Washington Post first reported the plan to give Taiwan $3 billion in annual military aid and cited congressional aides who said if the funds aren’t appropriated, the White House could ask Congress to approve the aid as emergency funding as it has been doing for Ukraine.
The $10 billion in FMF is an effort to incorporate into the NDAA a piece of legislation known as the Taiwan Policy Act. The bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee back in September and included $6.5 billion in FMF, which was raised to $10 billion.
The effort to arm Taiwan comes as China has been warning the US against increasing support for the island. Before voting on the Taiwan Policy Act, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) recognized how China would view the legislation. “We’re doing something that’s highly provocative and bellicose,” he said before voting in favor of the bill.
Always money to fund bombs even where there is no war and funding for the bombs WILL cross a red line and make war more likely. Our foreign policy makes no sense and all the money we spend on “defense” will ironically will make us more unsafe and more likely for the world to perish in a nuclear war.
Then we have the our neocon poisoned politicians with classic quotes like this from “conservative” Mitt – ‘We’re doing something that’s highly provocative and bellicose,” he said before voting in favor of the bill.’ Since when is it conservative to provoke a war with the most populous nation on Earth with a giant nuclear stockpile and the world’s factory for so many things including whatever screen you are reading this on? Why can’t Peace be our foreign policy FOR ONCE?
Well said Pal_2002, well said…. PEACE!
Ah, Romney. A good ‘ol boy; won’t rock the war boat. The US has such a deficit of ways to handle relations with other countries. War is the not just the default, but the preferred way. Even if it hasn’t proved a winning strategy.
Perhaps he can arrange a leveraged buyout of China. He is good at that, you know.
And the money is surely going into emergency effort to
prop up US friendly party and President. Ber party list elections, amd she resigned as party president, giving her two remaining years as a presidrnt to reci er her party’s standing till next presidential elections. The biggest winner is Kuomingtang, party of its founder Chiang Kai-Shek. Current winner of Taipei mayoral race is his grandson, a young and very popular politician that will for sure chalkenge the President next time around.
Why it matters? Kuomintang is nationalist party that is for self governance but finds its economic interests alligned with mainland China. It sers US as predatory, interested in controling and dangerous even stealing Taivan’s factories and engineers to develop US own domestic production and ditch Taiwan. Many engineers are not happy to have to go to US to establish chip factory, or lose jobs. US is not attractive employment place as cost of luving is high, many do not have English language skills and do not want to move families. This is why thousands work on mainland
China — no language barrier, short flight home.
Posi trip did more harm than good. Pushiness is not valued in that part of world. They allso enjoy economic benefits of mainland China, work opportunities and economic development unhindered. China does not wanti to “contain” Taiwan. Nor really nerd to rule it -/ for as ling as Taiwan does not become a springboard for US military aimed at China. Independence issue is just simply an issue of island becoming an US aircraft career.
For Kuomingtang – China is still China, and threatening it is not in their DNA.
I agree with yours above; so then, why accept the US military support?
“‘We’re doing something that’s highly provocative and bellicose,’ he said before voting in favor of the bill.” That’s so not funny. But still, Justin Raimondo would have had a lot of fun with this one.
So very true…!
One might ask why the US government is spending billions of dollars to build up China’s military.