On Friday, the White House released a brief memo that said President Biden directed the authorization of a new military aid package for Taiwan worth $571 million.
The memo didn’t detail the contents of the arms package, only saying it would include “defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan.”
The US provided Taiwan with a similar $571 million weapons package about three months ago, and the latest brings the total of US-funded military aid sent to the island this year to over $1 billion.
Both military aid packages were provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to ship weapons directly from US military stockpiles. Congress has authorized the provision of about $1 billion in PDA for Taiwan each year, and the $95 billion foreign military aid bill Biden signed in April included $1.9 billion that could be used to replenish weapons sent to Taiwan.
The US has sold weapons to Taiwan since severing diplomatic relations with the island in 1979, but it wasn’t until last year that the US started providing US-funded military aid, a step that marked a significant escalation aimed at Beijing.
Separately on Friday, the State Department approved two new arms sales to Taiwan worth a combined $295 million that include command and control communications systems and MK 75 76mm gun mounts.
In response to the military aid and weapons sales, China said the US was “playing with fire” and repeated its warning that the issue of Taiwan is a major “red line” in US-China relations that must “not be crossed.”
In recent months, China has stepped up its warning about Taiwan and launched major drills around the island. The Biden administration has ignored Beijing’s concerns and has recently approved a slew of weapons sales for the island.
