Aid package for Taiwan passes US House
The bill with US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds and US$1.9 billion to replenish defense articles passed the House 385-34
Taiwan is to continue working with the US to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday after the US House of Representatives approved a US$95 billion foreign aid package with funding for Taiwan.
The bills were passed with bipartisan support in a rare Saturday session after votes had been delayed for months by House Republicans.
After clearing the House, the bills — containing US$8 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, along with US$60.8 billion for Kyiv, and US$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones — would be combined into a single piece of legislation that the US Senate is expected to pass tomorrow.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the package “comes at a moment of grave urgency” and has promised to sign it into law immediately.
The supplemental defense funding was originally passed by the US Senate as a single bill in February, but has remained stalled in the Republican-led lower chamber.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson split the Senate’s proposal into three separate bills in the hopes of circumventing far-right Republicans who opposed extending further funds to Ukraine.
The Indo-Pacific bill containing provisions on Taiwan passed 38534, while the Ukraine bill passed 311-112 and the Israel bill passed 366-58.
In Taipei, the government thanked the House for approving the foreign aid.
Under the legislation, US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds would go to Taiwan and other US regional security partners to counter Chinese aggression, while US$1.9 billion would go to replenishing defense articles and defense services provided to Taiwan and regional partners, it said.
The bills not only showed that the US is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, but also that the US security commitment to Taiwan is a bipartisan consensus, Presidential Office spokesperson Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said.
As a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region and the international community, Taiwan would continue to work with the US and other like-minded countries to protect democracy and freedom, defend the rules-based international order and safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity, she added.
The defense ministry expressed the military’s gratitude for the pledged funding to support the country’s defense, even amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the Russian-Ukraine war.
The ministry said it would coordinate the use of the funds with the US through existing exchange mechanisms, and work to enhance combat readiness capabilities to ensure national security and peace and stability in the Strait.
Taiwan has since 2022 complained of delays in deliveries of US weapons such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, as manufacturers focused on supplying Ukraine to help it battle invading Russian forces.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the House for passing the defense funding, which it said once again reaffirmed Washington’s “rock-solid” commitment to helping Taiwan defend itself, as both sides this month commemorate the 45th anniversary of the passage of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) also expressed gratitude to the US, but lamented that it was a defense issue that has brought the world’s attention to Taiwan.
He said he hopes that with the country’s economic development and tourism, the world can see the nation as a place with good food and good fun, rather than a dangerous destination.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Washington-based organization of Taiwanese Americans, applauded the passage of the legislation.
Association executive director Anny Hsiao (蕭喬勻) in a statement on Saturday thanked the House “for their willingness to invest in the US’ own capabilities to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” adding that for Taiwanese Americans, “it is critical that Taiwan remains free, sovereign and independent.”
The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved long-delayed military aid to Ukraine in a rare show of bipartisan unity, while also bolstering Israel and Taiwan defenses and threatening to ban Chinese-owned TikTok.
The four bills in the US$95 billion package were overwhelmingly approved in quick succession, although they leave the future of US House Speaker Mike Johnson in some doubt as he seeks to fend off angry far-right detractors in his Republican Party.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that the legislation would “deliver critical support to Israel and Ukraine; provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and other locations ... and bolster security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
He praised lawmakers who came together across party lines “to answer history’s call.”
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the US$61 billion earmarked for his country, saying the military and economic assistance would “save thousands and thousands of lives.”
Not surprisingly, Russia took the opposite view.
“It will further enrich the United States of America and ruin Ukraine even more, by killing even more Ukrainians because of the Kyiv regime,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, state news agency TASS reported.
The US Senate is tomorrow to take up the bill.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated that his chamber would act quickly, saying in a statement that “the finish line is now in sight... America will deliver yet again.”
The bills are the product of months of acrimonious negotiations, pressure from US allies and repeated pleas for assistance from Zelenskiy.
The US has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half, mainly because of cross-aisle bickering.
Democrats in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months, but Republicans, influenced by the party’s presidential candidate, former US president Donald Trump, have been reluctant to provide funding to Kyiv for the drawn-out conflict.
Johnson, after months of hesitation, finally threw his support behind the aid package for Ukraine.
“To put it bluntly, I’d rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,” Johnson said.
The Ukraine bill also allows Biden to confiscate and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Ukraine to finance reconstruction, a move that has been embraced by other G7 nations.
At Biden’s request, about US$8 billion under one bill would be used to counter China through investments in submarine infrastructure and boosting competition with Beijing on projects built in developing countries.
The first of the bills passed would force social media platform TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban in the US.
Western officials have voiced alarm over the popularity of TikTok with young people, alleging that it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit to spread propaganda — claims denied by the company.
TikTok sharply denounced the bill, saying it “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses and shutter a platform that contributes US$24 billion to the US economy annually,” a TikTok spokesman said.
A total of US$13 billion in military assistance has been allocated for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. The money would essentially be used to reinforce Israel’s Iron Dome air defenses.
More than $9 billion will be earmarked to address “the dire need for humanitarian assistance for Gaza as well as other vulnerable populations around the world,” the legislation says.