US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Reuters, Eric Lee photo)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Reuters, Eric Lee photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington is weighing its own defense needs, military-industrial capacity, and requirements in other theaters as it considers a pending arms sale to Taiwan.
Rubio said the considerations apply as they do to all US arms-sale recipients. He said each sale must be balanced against the needs of US combatant commanders and the time required to replenish stocks.
He also pointed to the administration's recent record of arms sales to Taipei, saying the largest single US arms sale to the country ever was completed in December.
A proposed NT$439 billion (US$14 billion) arms package for Taiwan remains pending approval from President Donald Trump. Trump has held the package in abeyance since May, when he called it a bargaining chip after a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Four Republican senators in a letter sent Wednesday urged Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to accelerate stalled security assistance for Taiwan, including NT$9.3 billion in foreign military financing, NT$31 billion in security cooperation funds, and the NT$439 billion arms package. Senators Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis said the delays conflict with the administration’s push for Taiwan to purchase American weapons.
The senators warned that if the price of “keeping up diplomatic appearances” is denying partners key deterrence capabilities, it could undermine US credibility in the Indo-Pacific. Their letter came as Xi arrived in Washington for a meeting with Trump, with Taiwan expected to be among the issues discussed.
In a letter to Trump on Friday, US Representative John Moolenaar urged the president to reject Beijing's opposition to Taiwan arms sales during his meeting with Xi. On Tuesday, a group of seven Democratic US senators led by Jeanne Shaheen called on Trump to maintain American support for Taiwan’s defense and challenge Xi over Beijing’s ties to Russia and Iran.
Xi is expected to bring up the 1982 US-China joint communique to pressure Trump to stop arms sales to Taipei, Reuters reported, citing three sources briefed on the matter. The document says that the US “intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan.”
However, in an accompanying memorandum, then-US President Ronald Reagan wrote that Washington's willingness to reduce its arms sales to Taiwan “is conditioned absolutely upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful solution of the Taiwan-PRC differences.”