Ukraine war gobbles up US arms destined for Taiwan

THE Ukraine war is worsening a backlog of $19billion (£16billion) worth of US weapons due to be sent to Taiwan, according to officials in Washington.

The Biden administration has sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since February, but the assistance is posing challenges to America’s strategy to arm Taiwan against China.

The Pentagon has previously suggested that Beijing could try to forcibly seize Taiwan as early as 2026.

The US has a “porcupine” strategy towards the self-ruled island, which aims to arm it in a way that raises the cost of military action for Beijing.

But the backlog raises concern that Washington is running out of time, since, unlike Ukraine, Taiwan cannot be effectively armed after an invasion.

“Taiwan would like to request that the weapons the US sells to Taiwan be delivered as scheduled,” Gen Wang Shin-lung, the vice minister for armaments, said last month.

The backlog stood at $14billion last December and has since grown to $18.7 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. It includes 208 javelin antitank weapons and 215 stinger surfaceto-air missiles ordered in 2015. None of them has arrived on the island.

Some of the weapon types are also being sent to Ukraine, such as javelins, stingers, high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) and howitzers.

US officials said those purchases were all new off the production line, while the stingers and javelins for Ukraine came from existing military stockpiles.

“We continue to diligently work to provide capabilities to Taiwan as fast as possible while also making sure Ukraine can defend itself,” said Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman.