China's aggressive military drills around Taiwan in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit put Washington on edge, but not enough to spur an immediate sharp increase in weapons sales to the island, sources told Reuters.
President Joe Biden's administration and U.S. lawmakers stress their ongoing support for the government in Taipei, and there are items in the approval pipeline for Taiwan that could be announced in the coming weeks or months.
Critics of the administration's approach argue those drills, China's largest ever around the island, should be a wake-up call to encourage Washington to do more for Taiwan. For its part, Taiwan on Thursday proposed a 13.9% year-on-year increase to a record $19.41 billion in its defense budget for next year.
Since 2017, U.S. presidents have approved more than $18 billion in arms sales to the Chinese-claimed island, the largest portion of that coming in the second half of the Trump administration. But new approvals have slowed under Biden, amid delivery backlogs and reports of disagreement between Washington and Taipei over what the island needs.
"In earlier years they would put big packages together, wait a few years to make a big announcement. That's no longer the practice. Our requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and we will proceed as such," she said.'A LOT ON THE LINE' China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control, and says Washington's arms sales are what undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.Taipei says the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island and has no right to claim it.
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