Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden administration to prioritize arming Taiwan over Ukraine.
Hawley is a China hawk and wants the US to start giving Taiwan billions in military aid each year. He has voted against Ukraine aid packages and NATO expansion because he thinks the US should be focusing more on building up in the Asia Pacific to confront China instead of Russia.
The senator said in his letter to Blinken that he believes “Taiwan is more important for US national interests than Ukraine.” The senator claimed that the US needs to start sending more arms to Taiwan to prevent a Chinese invasion, although Beijing’s recent rhetoric and actions have made clear they are more likely to attack if the US keeps ramping up support for Taipei.
The letter said that if both Taiwan and Ukraine need a certain weapon, it “should go to Taiwan first.” Hawley pointed to a massive backlog in deliveries of US weapons that have already been sold to Taiwan as an example of how the US is failing to arm the island.
“The backlog reportedly includes Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. These weapons are vital to an asymmetric defense of Taiwan, but they have yet to arrive in Taiwan, even as the Administration has sent thousands to Ukraine,” he wrote.
Congress is working on starting giving Taiwan $3 billion in military aid each year, which is included in the draft 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), although lawmakers are worried the funding might not make it past the appropriations committees. Either way, there is strong bipartisan support for significantly ramping up support for Taiwan.
These fools want Armageddon. China doesn’t want a War over Formosa, but the Neocons and the Neoliberals do.
There will only be a war if China ‘invades’ so the ‘fools’ will only get a war if China starts it.
Ah well, I would be severely disappointed if war-fans all of the sudden asserted that the destruction of Ukraine statisfied them enough, that they would not desire the complete annihilation of Taiwan too.
Given that you AFAIK think that the war fans are western that sounds like you did not get the point i.e. only Chinese war-fans can start this.
Well, since you do not or don’t want to or perhaps aren’t able to understand the dynamic that produced the predictable and predicted destruction of Ukraine, you cannot be expected to deviate on Taiwan I suppose. That is just so sad.
I understood the dynamics around the situation in Ukraine – and I understand that war was foisted upon them by the Russians – no other nation invaded them – much the same applies to the Taiwan situation – except that the Chinese have it as direct foreign policy to use force when all other means to re-unite have failed – so the situation is pretty clear.
What I can predict is that the US will not invade Taiwan, or declare war on Taiwan – so for Taiwan to get into war the Chinese have to foist it upon them – or are you claiming that some other party will declare war on Taiwan?
You once again just regurgitate the propaganda. I know the script and already rejected that in in February 2022. I have to inform you that it hasn’t thus far gained any credibility by endless repeat.
Saying that Russia started the war is not propaganda it is a fact – we can debate if the Russians had good reasons to do so, but hopefully even you can acknowledge that it was Russian ground and air borne troops who invaded Ukrainian territory in 2022 (and in 2014) not western (and not only in western propaganda).
Now if you claim is that by not debating the reasons that Russia invaded I’m regurgitating Western propaganda – well then you just have a strange definition of ‘regurgitating’ seeing as nothing can hardly be regurgitated and is very difficult to repeat.
Predictable and predicted … but not, at least yet, accomplished.
Beijing is presumably watching the situation with a great deal of interest, gathering all the information it can, and examining its own capabilities in light of that information. That process will be one major part of any decisions regarding Taiwan.
Of course. The Chinese can be safely assumed to go about it differently. But what they are not going to do is change their minds about Taiwan or the South Chinese Sea. What the US is trying to do apparently is changing the urgency of the situation for the Chinese through changing the equation from unification to security, using Taiwan as a battering ram. The ways that could go wrong are I suppose legion, but that depends on what you want the end game to be.
“NeoDisease”? Surely there must be a vaccine?
They don’t want Armageddon; but they will not accept a multi-polar world and they will not accept China’s inevitable rise to the number one economy in the world.
Taiwan is a trap like Ukraine, this one set to split China off from the world … can the Chinese outmaneuver these machinations? We shall see.
It is now called Taiwan, Formosa is the old European name.
Filling the “Always be tough playbook.” Even when weak and indebted. What could possibly go wrong…?????? Or perhaps I should say what ELSE could go wrong.
“Clowns to the left of me jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you…” Let’s just arm EVERYONE, no matter the cost or consequences…
“Clowns to the left of me jokers to the right”
Perfect. Hammer hitting nail squarely on head. Now I’ll be humming that tune all day long.
It might be another boost for our annual GDP which has been somewhat wobbly recently.
“Always look on the bright side of life!”…
Now this is a perfect example why people were foolish to think the republicans were becoming antiwar because of them voting against aid packages for Ukraine. Priorities baby!
When have the republicans anti-war? I’m sure sometime in the past they were, just don’t remember.
Sen. Hawley. prioritize USA over all others?
Why doesn’t Josh Hawley volunteer to defend those rocks in the South China Sea? What a craven opportunist – shown in his best egging on Capitol rioters and then running from them to a basement. And then while in the basement, he gave a speech egging them on again. The worst of neocon politicians.
Come on you jackasses! You warmongers: Russia and China await! World War Three is in the offing!
I Suppose all we can do is wait & try to discern why this and why now. I attribute this awful situation to American weakness due to the “Great War On Terror” diversion caused its decline in great gamesmanship.
While America and its Gnomes chased Muslims & ArabsA in deserts, China and Russia upped their game in weapons of war and have surpassed America and its flock of Gnomes to now challenge some of their post WWII actions like the expansion of NATO to their doorstep & of course their double talk on Taiwan in word versus deed. They just are NOT going to take it anymore. Had America and Western Powers retained their largely unchallenged dominance in miiltary might and therefore hegemony by their perceived invincibility, this Ukraine war would never have occurred. It was a better time for the West in 2014 when Hillary Clinton and her warrier harpies did the coup that set the stage for todays show. Of course we cannot exclude their ignoble rout from Afghanistan to the calculus of their decline. This logjam cannot endure as the pressure builds with every passing day. Something is bound to eventually snap like the straw that broke the camels back.