TAIPEI, March 30 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers visiting Taipei urged Taiwan’s parliament on Monday to approve a stalled $40 billion defence budget, warning that delays could weaken the island’s ability to deter Chinese military pressure despite U.S. security and arms support.
The U.S. is democratically governed Taiwan’s most important international supporter and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. China claims Taiwan as its own territory, while the island rejects this.
President Lai Ching-te’s proposed $40 billion in extra defence spending is currently stalled in the opposition-controlled parliament.
U.S. Republican Senator John Curtis arrived in Taipei on Monday with three other lawmakers, as Beijing ramps up military and political pressure on the democratic island to accept its sovereignty.
“We’re here to enforce that message and demonstrate to the people here in Taiwan that we are together a very important part of the safety and the unity around this world,” Curtis said at a media briefing in the presidential office after meeting Lai.
THE SPECIAL BUDGET ‘IS IMPORTANT,’ CURTIS SAYS
“I’d like to personally endorse the special defence budget and tell you back in Washington, D.C., that my colleagues are watching, that this is important,” he said. “We want to make sure that as we invest in this part of the world, that you are also investing and that we’re in this together.”
Taiwan’s opposition-dominated parliament is still debating Lai’s defence spending proposal, though it has already cleared four U.S. arms deals worth about $9 billion.
The United States has strongly supported Lai’s efforts to boost Taiwan’s armaments as part of a push by President Donald Trump’s administration to get allies to spend more on defence.
CONCERN OVER CHINA PRESSURE
“We are concerned by the increased pressure from Beijing, including military activity around Taiwan that raises the risk of miscalculation,” Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the same briefing.
Deputy Minister Hsu Szu-chien, speaking later at government-run weapons developer the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taoyuan, said he hoped the U.S. could expedite the process for further arms sales to the island.
“This would greatly facilitate our efforts to secure funding for the special defence budget,” he added at the institute, which develops weapons systems like missiles and drones.
The United States is currently preparing a second arms sale package for Taiwan worth some $14 billion, sources have previously told Reuters.
In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry reiterated its opposition to any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan.
The U.S. should take concrete actions to safeguard China-U.S. relations, and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Mao Ning, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, told reporters.
China has been ramping up political and military pressure against Taiwan, including holding war games, most recently in December after Washington approved an earlier $11 billion arms sale for the island.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing and Ann Wang in Taoyuan, TaiwanEditing by Bernadette Baum)
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