Taiwan is to continue working with the US to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday after the US House of Representatives approved a US$95 billion foreign aid package with funding for Taiwan.
The bills were passed with bipartisan support in a rare Saturday session after votes had been delayed for months by House Republicans.
After clearing the House, the bills — containing US$8 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, along with US$60.8 billion for Kyiv, and US$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones — would be combined into a single piece of legislation that the US Senate is expected to pass tomorrow.
Photo: AFP
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the package “comes at a moment of grave urgency” and has promised to sign it into law immediately.
The supplemental defense funding was originally passed by the US Senate as a single bill in February, but has remained stalled in the Republican-led lower chamber.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson split the Senate’s proposal into three separate bills in the hopes of circumventing far-right Republicans who opposed extending further funds to Ukraine.
The Indo-Pacific bill containing provisions on Taiwan passed 385-34, while the Ukraine bill passed 311-112 and the Israel bill passed 366-58.
In Taipei, the government thanked the House for approving the foreign aid.
Under the legislation, US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds would go to Taiwan and other US regional security partners to counter Chinese aggression, while US$1.9 billion would go to replenishing defense articles and defense services provided to Taiwan and regional partners, it said.
The bills not only showed that the US is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, but also that the US security commitment to Taiwan is a bipartisan consensus, Presidential Office spokesperson Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said.
As a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region and the international community, Taiwan would continue to work with the US and other like-minded countries to protect democracy and freedom, defend the rules-based international order and safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity, she added.
The defense ministry expressed the military’s gratitude for the pledged funding to support the country’s defense, even amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the Russian-Ukraine war.
The ministry said it would coordinate the use of the funds with the US through existing exchange mechanisms, and work to enhance combat readiness capabilities to ensure national security and peace and stability in the Strait.
Taiwan has since 2022 complained of delays in deliveries of US weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers focused on supplying Ukraine to help it battle invading Russian forces.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the House for passing the defense funding, which it said once again reaffirmed Washington’s “rock-solid” commitment to helping Taiwan defend itself, as both sides this month commemorate the 45th anniversary of the passage of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) also expressed gratitude to the US, but lamented that it was a defense issue that has brought the world’s attention to Taiwan.
He said he hopes that with the country’s economic development and tourism, the world can see the nation as a place with good food and good fun, rather than a dangerous destination.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Washington-based organization of Taiwanese Americans, applauded the passage of the legislation.
Association executive director Anny Hsiao (蕭喬勻) in a statement on Saturday thanked the House “for their willingness to invest in the US’ own capabilities to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” adding that for Taiwanese Americans, “it is critical that Taiwan remains free, sovereign and independent.”
Additional reporting by Chen I-shao
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat