US senators urge speedy arms delivery to Taiwan
TOUGH DIPLOMACY NEEDED: The officials criticized Donald Trump for rolling out the red carpet for counterpart Xi Jinping instead of confronting him on key issues
By Hollie Younger and Fion Khan / Staff writers
Twenty-one US Democratic senators in a joint statement on Thursday last week urged US President Donald Trump to “immediately deliver congressionally approved defense assistance to Taiwan.”
The statement followed Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Those commitments include US$1.3 billion in funds provided by the US Congress, existing weapons sales and a US$14 billion package of new arms sales approved nine months ago, the joint statement said.
An F-16V Block 70 aircraft is pictured in an undated photograph. The air force yesterday confirmed that the first two of the 66 F-16 Block 70 (F-16V) jets Taiwan purchased from the US are to arrive Friday at Taitung County’s Chihhang Air Base.
Photo: Screen grab from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s Facebook page
“[US] support for Taiwan’s self-defense is non-negotiable and crucial to preventing a cross-strait conflict that would destabilize the region and threaten the global economy,” it said. “The US must stand with Indo-Pacific allies in combating [China’s] economic and military coercion as well as directly confront [its] renewed island-building in the South China Sea and increasing aggression in the East China Sea.”
The joint statement was led by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and was signed by other senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer; Senate Democratic whip Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and Jack Reed, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
The Chinese Communist Party’s repression is worsening across China and expanding beyond its borders, with its Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress codifying the forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uighurs, the statement said.
The statement listed people who remain unjustly detained in China, including pro-democracy Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英), 78, who is still in prison.
“Human rights cannot be an afterthought in our relationship with China,” it said.
The senators criticized Trump for “roll[ing] out the red carpet for Xi” instead of confronting him on key issues such as “military aggression against our allies.”
Trump had traded “tough diplomacy for a ballroom tour and a lavish dinner with his billionaire friends,” the statement said.
“The American people deserve leaders who fight for their financial security and defend our national interests with purpose and measured strategy, not pageantry,” it said. “We will compete successfully with China only through sustained investment in our own strengths, close coordination with allies and an unwavering defense of our democratic values.”
In related news, the air force yesterday confirmed that the first two of the 66 F-16 Block 70 (F-16V) jets Taiwan purchased from the US are to arrive today at Taitung County’s Chihhang Air Base (志航基地).
The jets left the US on Aug. 17, but remained in Hawaii for an extended period.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the F-16Vs had reached a stage where they were ready for delivery and that the Ministry of National Defense would announce their return flight once the schedule is confirmed.
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