U.S. to announce $345 million army assist bundle for Taiwan

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is ready to announce $345 million in army assist for Taiwan, two U.S. officers stated Friday. It could be the Biden administration’s first main bundle drawing on America’s personal stockpiles below a brand new coverage supposed to hurry up army assist to assist Taiwan counter China.

The bundle contains man-portable air protection programs, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, in accordance with the officers, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate delicate issues forward of the announcement.

U.S. lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to hurry weapons to Taiwan, to assist it counter China.

The assist is a part of a presidential authority permitted by Congress final yr to attract weapons from U.S. army stockpiles to help Taiwan. This will get weapons delivered quicker than offering funding for brand new weapons.

The Pentagon has used an identical authority to get billions of {dollars} value of munitions to Ukraine.

Taiwan break up from China in 1949 amid civil conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains China’s proper to take over the now self-ruled island, by power if mandatory.

Getting stockpiles of weapons to Taiwan now, earlier than an assault begins, is among the classes the U.S. has discovered from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon deputy protection secretary Kathleen Hicks informed The Associated Press earlier this yr.

Ukraine “was more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons,” Hicks stated. Efforts to resupply Taiwan after a battle erupted could be sophisticated as a result of it’s an island, she stated.