A Taiwanese Coast Guard boat patrols in the waters off the Chinese city of Xiamen, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on May 10. Photo / Getty Images
United States President Donald Trump declined to approve more than US$400 million ($680m) in military aid to Taiwan this summer, as he tries to negotiate a trade deal and potential summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to five people familiar with the matter.
The decision, which may still be reversed, marks a U-turn in US policy towards the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Two people familiar with the matter said the package was worth more than US$400m and would have been “more lethal” than past rounds of aid to Taiwan, including munitions and autonomous drones.
In a statement, a White House official said the decision on the aid package had not yet been finalised. Taiwan’s unofficial embassy in Washington declined to comment.
America’s military has long committed resources to Taiwan’s defence, as China’s People’s Liberation Army rapidly builds up forces and stages more elaborate drills around the island.
Xi has instructed the PLA to be capable of seizing Taiwan by 2027, according to US military and intelligence officials, who stress that the date is not a deadline for an invasion.
“This would be exactly the wrong time for the US to take the foot off the gas pedal,” said Dan Blumenthal, a former Pentagon official who now works at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Trump Administration has broadly tempered US competition with China in an effort to reach a wide-reaching trade deal with Beijing - easing export controls on high-end semiconductors and declining to enforce a congressional ban on the social media app TikTok.
Some of the concessions have alarmed members of the first Trump Administration and Republican lawmakers, who have also voiced concerns about insufficient support for Taiwan’s overstretched defences.
The fastest way to fortify Taiwan’s military is by directly shipping US arms, a process known as Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA. The Biden Administration approved three such packages for Taiwan while in office, alongside another round of long-term military aid, totalling more than US$2 billion.
Trump has promised a more transactional US foreign policy and does not support sending weapons without payment, a preference also on display with Ukraine.
Rather than continue providing security aid to Kyiv, the president has pushed a programme in which European countries would buy American weapons and then donate them to the Ukrainian military.
Congress grants the Administration US$1b in annual authority to send security aid to Taiwan, a total that resets at the end of the fiscal year in September.
The Biden Administration approved a US$571m package shortly before leaving office.
The Trump Administration’s view is that Taiwan, which has a large, prosperous economy, should purchase its own weapons, similar to Israel or countries in Europe - a sentiment shared by some Democrats in Congress.
In a meeting between US and Taiwanese defence officials in Anchorage last month, the sides agreed to a massive package of weapons sales, four people familiar with the talks said.
Taiwan plans to pay for the new round of arms, which could total in the billions of dollars, by passing a supplemental defence spending bill now under debate in its legislature.
The package would consist almost solely of “asymmetric” equipment, such as drones, missiles and sensors to monitor the island’s coastline, the people said.
Still, these next-generation weapons may take years to deliver. Taipei is already waiting on billions of dollars’ worth of weapons - including F-16 fighter jets and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
Taiwan plans to spend 3.3% of its GDP on defence next year, a number it has sought to increase as Trump calls for a 10% benchmark. President Lai Ching-te said in August that the island will spend 5% of GDP by 2030.
The US Government has for years urged Taiwan to buy more low-cost weaponry to counter China’s massive advantage in ships, planes and missiles, but doing so will also make it harder to reach such drastic increases in defence spending.
Under the first Trump Administration, the US approved almost US$20b in weapons sales to Taiwan, most of which went towards expensive platforms such as F-16 fighter jets and Abrams tanks.
Since returning to office, Trump has sent conflicting signals towards China and Taiwan - from launching an abrupt trade war with Beijing in April to accusing Taipei of stealing America’s semiconductor industry.
The Administration cancelled meetings between senior US and Taiwanese defence officials and discouraged Lai from making a planned trip to New York and Dallas in August.
Trump has repeatedly said China will not invade Taiwan during his time in office.
This week, the Administration informally alerted Congress of a potential US$500m arms sale to Taiwan, according to a congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Top Trump officials have held calls with Chinese counterparts in recent weeks as the President prepares for a potential summit with Xi.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who spoke this month with China’s Defence Minister, Admiral Dong Jun, “made clear that the US does not seek conflict with China nor is it pursuing regime change or strangulation of the PRC”, according to the Pentagon readout, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
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