U.S. President Donald Trump has not approved a $400 million (about 555 billion won) defense support package for Taiwan.
On the 18th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) cited sources as saying that the defense support package Trump refused to approve included items more lethal than before, such as ammunition and autonomous drones. Taiwan's defense support had been approved through procedures such as the "presidential drawdown authority" (PDA) during the tenure of Trump's predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
The PDA is the authority that allows the president to transfer military materiel held by the U.S. military without separate authorization from Congress, and former President Biden approved three Taiwan military support packages totaling $2 billion (2.7 trillion won), including long-term military aid. Biden also invoked this authority 35 times to support weapons for Ukraine.
The Trump administration is pushing large-scale arms sales to Taiwan instead of weapons aid. The WP explained that because Taiwan's economic conditions are sound, the administration's view is that it should purchase weapons from the United States. During his first term, Trump also sold $20 billion (about 27.9 trillion won) worth of weapons to Taiwan.
Sources said the United States and Taiwan already agreed to a large purchase of U.S.-made weapons at a meeting of defense authorities in Anchorage last month. The aggregates are in the billions of dollars (in the trillions of won), and Taiwan plans to pay the expense by passing an additional defense expenditure bill in its legislature. The Trump administration has reportedly given Congress an informal notice this week of the possibility of a $500 million (about 700 billion won) arms sale to Taiwan as a first step.
Some warn that this approach by the Trump administration falls short of supporting Taiwan's defensive capacity. China is rapidly building up its military and has been conducting more sophisticated military drills around Taiwan. U.S. intelligence believes Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered the military to be ready to mount an attack on Taiwan by 2027.
The White House said that, regarding the report, a final decision has not been made on the Taiwan security support package.