Pentagon bill includes up to US$10 billion in grants and loans to Taiwan for arms sales
- The Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act, part of Defence Department budget legislation, would mark the first time the US would directly finance weapons for Taiwan
- But the bill also drops earlier proposals, like renaming Taipei’s de facto US embassy and designating Taiwan a ‘major non-Nato ally’, seen to antagonise Beijing
US legislation to boost security cooperation with Taiwan, authorising up to US$10 billion in spending, has been added to a must-pass defence bill – but other controversial Taiwan-related measures have been deleted.
The National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) for the coming fiscal year includes the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA), which authorises US$2 billion in annual military aid for five years under an inter-agency programme that provides grants and loans to other countries to purchase US military equipment, services and training. It also authorises another US$1 billion annually of emergency defence assistance to Taiwan.
![Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, said the bill would “[set] the theatre for real deterrence by implementing a more resilient strategy for Taiwan”. Photo: Getty Images/AFP](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2022/12/08/2be41f20-d373-4681-9e0f-257137e086a1_89e8f761.jpg "Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, said the bill would “[set] the theatre for real deterrence by implementing a more resilient strategy for Taiwan”. Photo: Getty Images/AFP")
According to the NDAA language, TERA aims to “strengthen the United States-Taiwan defence relationship” and “prevent the People’s Republic of China from decapitating, seizing control of, or otherwise neutralising or rendering ineffective Taiwan’s civilian and defence leadership”.
The bill, which is expected to pass the Senate and House of Representatives this month, would directly finance US weapons sales to Taiwan for the first time. It also establishes the US’s first Taiwan-specific defence modernisation programme.
The bill also calls for strategies to support Taiwan’s participation in international organisations and to respond to Chinese influence and information operations targeting the island.
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In a statement Wednesday, Senator Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the national defence bill would be one of the most consequential in years “for setting the theatre for real deterrence by implementing a more resilient strategy for Taiwan, should China continue pursuing a collision course toward war”.