Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Huang Kuo-chang/Facebook
US ARMS SALES to Taiwan have been thrown into question due to the KMT’s continual refusal to approve defense procurement spending. The KMT, along with its ally, the TPP, has now voted down defense spending ten times.
In particular, the block on defense procurement now threatens arms sales from the US. The US announced an 11.1 billion USD arms sale package in December, which is historic in scale. However, the terms of agreement for the arms sale package may expire if defense procurement spending is not approved.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) has stated that it will seek to extend the validity period so that the arms sale package may occur. A number of US politicians have also weighed in on the matter, urging the KMT to stop with the obstructionism in order to shore up Taiwan’s defenses.
In the meantime, the TPP has advanced its own version of the defense procurement bill. The TPP’s version of the defense procurement bill limits arms purchases to 82 HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems, 60 M109A self-propelled howitzers, 70 Javelin anti-tank missile systems, 24 TOW-2B anti-tank missile systems, as well as missile-firing drones.
At the same time, the DPP has criticized this version of the defense procurement bill as deeply flawed. Items listed out in the defense procurement bill have been criticized as overly specific in a manner that does not conform to how arms procurement bills are normally written. For example, given the wording of the bill, Taiwan would be limited to buying certain kinds of ammunition that it may not need, such that the only precision artillery it is allowed to buy is M109A artillery shells–which could lead to shortages in terms of actual defense usage.
Moreover, the TPP’s version of defense procurement was criticized as being unclear as to whether classified items were included or not. The MND stated, too, that the bill lacked provisions for maintenance or storage of the equipment it aimed to purchase, which would result in the deterioration of such equipment.
Even so, the TPP doubled down on its bill. With the director of the American Institute in Taiwan–the de facto US embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties–Raymond Greene weighing in on the matter to state that the US would only help those who help themselves, TPP chair Huang Kuo-chang hit back at Greene. Huang stated that Greene was “too involved in Taiwan’s internal affairs.”
This language was later echoed by members of the KMT. KMT deputy chair Hsiao Hsu-tsen claimed that Greene was “only a little higher up than a section chief” in comments. Hsiao praised Chinese officials he met with during a recent trip to China in preparation for an eventual meeting between KMT chair Cheng Li-wun and Chinese president Xi Jinping in the same set of comments.
Cheng herself also suggested that it was ridiculous to think that the defense procurement bill threatened US-Taiwan relations, stating that the US-Taiwan relationship was more than just the one bill. Even so, comments by diplomatic representatives in Taiwan cited by international media have broadly suggested concern about the KMT obstructing arms purchases from the US, which could possibly lead to a rethinking of some countries’ stances toward Taiwan. Cheng has, on other occasions, suggested that Taiwan could provoke China into an attack by getting too close to the US, as well as that the US foists useless arms onto Taiwan to profit.
More generally, the KMT has come to embrace US-skepticism, alleging that the US is an unreliable ally that intends to hollow out Taiwan of its current advantages and then abandon it. Certainly, the Trump administration has not helped in this regard, often giving the KMT ammunition with its actions. But the issue of arms purchases has become a particularly acute tension point regarding Taiwan’s broader relationship with the US.