Sputnik
US President Joe Biden was authorized by Congress last year to use $1 billion for bolstering Taiwan in line with the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, amid the oft-replicated narrative of an ostensible China "threat." However, there have been reports of a serious backlog in delivering weapons to the island.
Washington, which has been pumping Taiwan with modern weapons to repel a Chinese “invasion,” reportedly intends to speed up the process even more, readying another military package for the island worth $500 million. Moreover, to expedite the delivery, it intends to resort to the Presidential Drawdown Authority, sources were cited as saying.
This will ostensibly be the first time that the US wields this emergency authority in relation to military aid for Taiwan. The Biden administration has been enthusiastically relying on this foreign policy tool to send military assistance to the Kiev regime.
The Presidential Drawdown Authority allows for quick delivery of "defense articles and services from Department of Defense stocks to foreign countries and international organizations to respond to unforeseen emergencies," as per the US State Department's website. In fact, such shipments can be made within a matter of days, even hours, of approval.
The report did not specify what kind of equipment would be in the weapons package.
The attempt to evade the usually protracted process of arms contracting and production comes as US lawmakers have been raising a hue and cry over a backlog in already approved armaments meant for Taiwan reportedly worth $19 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have been blamed for the delays.
The US has been vehemently ramping up military aid to Taiwan, justifying the move by spinning the yarn of a China invasion "threat."
Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949, when Taipei severed all ties with Beijing following the Chinese Civil War. Beijing views the island as a breakaway province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country, but stops short of declaring independence. Chinese officials have repeatedly announced their aspiration to ensure a peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the mainland under the so-called "One Country, Two Systems" model – which would allow the island to preserve elements of its existing political, legal, and economic systems while remaining in China’s jurisdiction. However, Beijing has also warned that any attempts by foreign-backed separatists to declare independence could trigger a military solution to the issue. Accordingly, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has extended numerous warnings to Washington policymakers against militarizing Taiwan and fuelling separatist sentiment on the island.
In total disregard of the warnings, the United States recently ramped up its informal diplomatic ties with Taipei in violation of commitments made to China when diplomatic relations were restored in 1979.
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