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Proposed bill to prioritize U.S. arms delivery to Taiwan: Senator

ROC Central News Agency

06/23/2023 02:27 PM

Washington, June 22 (CNA) United States Senator Dan Sullivan has proposed a bill that would place Taiwan on the U.S.'s priority list for arms sale deliveries, amid reports of a US$19 billion backlog.

"My bill is a simple matter of priorities," Sullivan said of the bill he co-sponsored with Republican colleague Rick Scott on Tuesday, noting that the goal was to "match our priorities to our rhetoric by putting Taiwan at the head of the queue."

"We have delivery dates for the $19 billion in weapons that Taiwan has bought -- not gifted, but bought -- stretching out to the end of the decade," he told CNA on Thursday.

"Everyone in Washington agrees that Taiwan is under dire, immediate threat from the Chinese Communist Party," Sullivan said.

Sullivan's bill, which does not yet have a name, requires the U.S. secretary of defense to "ensure the delivery of defense articles and services to Taiwan ahead of the delivery of substantially similar articles and services to any other foreign military sales customer."

The bill states, however, that deliveries to Taiwan may not cause delays in the delivery of similar defense articles or services to Ukraine or Israel.

The U.S. government has blamed disruption to supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increased demand for weaponry in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine for the slow delivery of its arms to Taiwan.

U.S. media reported that as of the end of 2022, the backlog in deliveries of U.S. defense articles to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Sales program was around $19 billion in value, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles and F-16 fighter jets.

As part of efforts to reduce that backlog, the U.S. at the end of May delivered a batch of Stinger missiles to Taiwan that was related to a $223.56 million arms sale originally approved in 2019, a U.S. state department spokesperson confirmed to the Hill.

(By Stacy Hsu and Teng Pei-ju)

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