McCaul vows to fix Taiwan weapons backlog amid Chinese drills off coast
Jerry Dunleavy
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee promised Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen that the United States would fix a defense equipment backlog and get the democratic island nation what it needs to protect itself from Chinese aggression.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) led a congressional delegation on a trip to Taiwan, where members of the House told Taiwan’s leaders that the U.S. would attempt to resolve delays in sending the island missiles and rockets it had already ordered, in some cases years ago.
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The discussions happened amid the backdrop of large drills by the People’s Liberation Army near the coast of Taiwan.
“As the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, I sign off on all foreign military sales, including weapons to Taiwan. And I promise you, Madame President, we will deliver those weapons,” McCaul vowed during a meeting with Tsai at Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. “We are doing everything we can in Congress to speed up these sales and get you the weapons you need to defend yourself. And we will provide training to your military — not for war, but for peace. For as Ronald Reagan said, we achieve peace through strength.”
The delays in U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan were also a concern for Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, whom the Washington Examiner met with on Monday.
“It’s a topic of every major dialogue between Taiwan and the United States. And I think the [Biden] administration also understands the issue very well, and they assured us that they would try to find creative ways for resolving the issue,” Wu said. “Right now, what is needed is not only the asymmetric type of weapons that we would need. It is also the traditional platforms for dealing with the gray-zone activities.”
Wu said Taiwan had placed orders for advanced F-16 jet fighters and said the Taiwanese military has been discussing with the U.S. the island’s need for “asymmetric weapons,” such as Javelins, Stinger missiles, and smart mines. Wu added, “We are also in the process of acquiring our own naval platforms.”
Wu said it was key “for Taiwan to be able to defend itself” in order to prevent China from believing it could launch a quick war against Taiwan.
McCaul told the Washington Examiner the delays of U.S. weapons deliveries were “very frustrating” and that it currently could take three years for weapons to get there. The congressman said solutions may includ the reprioritization of weapons deliveries to Taiwan as a high-threat area or turning to other allies that have weapons to spare.
“The struggle is producing the weapons, getting them there, and getting them trained to operate them,” McCaul said. “I look at the delivery of some of these weapons systems — we’re looking at 2025, and I don’t know if we have the luxury of time.”
McCaul said the goal of the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act was “to make them more resilient by a foreign military financing program to give them more maritime assets because what they don’t have — and they’ll admit to it now — they kind of understand asymmetric warfare, but they don’t have these Harpoon anti-ship weapons, which they really need; they need sea mines all over the straits to make it very difficult, they don’t have that; and they need these sea drones, the little submarines.”
Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) told the Washington Examiner that “we have questions to our military generals and to the military folks here in Taiwan of the backlog weapons, what are the specific weapons they need for the short-term as they plan and prepare for a potential blockade or potential aggression from China.”
She pointed to the Arms Exports Delivery Solutions Act, which aims at speeding up the delivery of U.S. defense equipment to Taiwan. She said the question to ask is, “What are the weapons that we can deliver right away so that China gets the message that Taiwan is fully prepared?”
The Texas Republican said during a Friday press conference: “We are doing everything in our power to expedite” the weapons deliveries.
“I think we are in broad agreement that this absolutely needs to be done to provide the deterrence for Taiwan to promote peace in the region. Peace through strength is real, and that’s why we need to harden Taiwan,” McCaul said. “We want to do everything we can to deter a very aggressive nation, communist China, from ever thinking about landing on the shores of this beautiful island.”
Rep. French Hill (R-AR), also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Examiner: “I believe strongly that we should be providing them the defensive weapons and training that facilitate and enhance their own efforts, their own domestic defense industry, and their own domestic military strategy.”
The congressional delegation got a glimpse of that domestic defense industry during a Friday tour of Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, a Taiwan state-affiliated defense institution under the auspices of the Taiwan Defense Ministry.
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A top NCSIST executive told the House members that the 10,000-strong company develops anti-air, air-to-air, and anti-ship missiles, resulting in large stockpiles, and also works on submarine technology. He said the company needed “support from the United States” for some of the key equipment components.
The minitour included a video presentation, a museum display of Taiwan weapon systems, and a chance to try out a multiplayer battle simulator, with McCaul scoring the highest of the members of Congress.