The war on Iran has not delayed shipments of weapons to Taiwan or changed US policy toward the nation, officials from US President Donald Trump's administration told US Congress members yesterday, despite the demands of the intense air campaign.
"Have we delayed moving things to Taiwan? We haven't," Stanley Brown, principal deputy assistant US Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, told a US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing.
The US and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28, a campaign that has raised concerns among some US officials that the US defense industry would be unable to keep up with demand and could be forced to slow shipments to buyers such as Taiwan, which faces steadily rising military pressure from China.
Photo: Reuters
There was already a multibillion-dollar backlog of US arms shipments to Taiwan before the Iran war started.
The administration was looking at ways to expedite shipments, Brown said, without providing specifics.
Several members of the House committee raised concerns about Taiwan during the hearing, which took place on the day Trump said he was postponing a highly anticipated trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Taiwan was one of the issues expected to be discussed by the two leaders.
Reuters last week reported that a major US arms package for Taiwan that included advanced interceptor missiles was ready for Trump's approval and could be signed after his trip to China. With a price tag of about US$14 billion, the arms deal would be the largest ever for the democratically governed nation, which faces steadily rising military pressure from China.
It was not immediately clear whether the trip's delay would affect the timing of the arms deal.
Trump's Republicans and Democrats in Congress have also been sparring bitterly over his declarations of national emergencies to sidestep congressional review of foreign weapons sales, including the decision this month to expedite the sale of US$650 million worth of bombs to Israel.
At the hearing, committee Chairman Brian Mast and other Republicans accused Democrats of delaying crucial assistance to important allies as they face international threats.
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