U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) urged President Joe Biden to increase fiscal year 2024 foreign military financing (FMF) for Taiwan, including up to $2 billion in FMF grants.
“Current national security realities demand a reassessment and reassertion of security assistance as a central tool of foreign policy, especially in the Indo-Pacific,” wrote Sen. Wicker, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, and Rep. McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a Feb. 16 letter sent to the president.
Along with two other Republicans, the lawmakers wrote that while Biden’s National Security Strategy has identified China as the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, his administration has not acted to quickly arm and equip Taiwan to defend against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The CCP’s belligerence towards Taiwan has reached new heights, and the cross-Strait and regional military balance in the Indo-Pacific continues to shift in China’s favor,” the lawmakers wrote. “China’s growing willingness to use its military to coerce U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, its recent violation of U.S. sovereignty using a high-altitude surveillance balloon, and its aggressive build-up of conventional and nuclear capabilities pose a grave threat to vital U.S. interests.”
The FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act authorized up to $2 billion in FMF grants to Taiwan for each of the fiscal years 2023 through 2027, as well as $1 billion a year in drawdown authority for Taiwan, according to their letter, which noted that while the loans included in the most recent appropriations bill are helpful, without FMF grants, loans won’t be enough to address the situation.
“In this context, the administration should increase the FMF budget request and allocate a greater share of Function 150 resources towards FMF, including funding for security assistance and training for Taiwan in [FY] 2024,” they wrote. “This would signal to Congress and Taiwan that the administration in fact prioritizes resources for the policies it has publicly supported and signed into law.
“The United States must not be deterred from taking meaningful actions to counter CCP objectives that threaten our interests,” according to the letter, which was also signed by U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.