Senate to add $10 billion in Taiwan aid, scale back arms sale reform – By Bryant Harris and Joe Gould (Defense News) / Oct 17, 2022
WASHINGTON — The Senate’s annual defense authorization bill will now include $10 billion in military aid for Taiwan — more than double the initial amount proposed — even as it scales back language intended to help address the $14 billion backlog of arms sales the Asian nation already made from the U.S.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., included a modified Taiwan defense package as part of a massive bipartisan amendment he filed last week to the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The full Senate is expected to vote on the NDAA, including the Taiwan defense provisions, when lawmakers return to Washington after the November midterm elections.
Reed told reporters last week that the NDAA’s defense package for Taipei remains “consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.” The bill’s defense provisions for Taipei come from the sprawling Taiwan Policy Act, which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced 17-5 last month.
The White House had expressed concerns regarding the initial version of the Taiwan Policy Act, introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J. He worked with the White House to address many of those concerns, but the NDAA only contains the defense components of Menendez’s bill while removing provisions that would upgrade diplomatic ties with Taipei, give Taiwan the same treatment as major non-NATO allies and sanction China. China considers Taiwan a rogue province and has threatened to return it under the mainland’s control, by force if necessary.
