After China acted two days of military exercises To punish Taiwan, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas stood next to the island's newly elected president, Lai Ching-te, on Monday and made a promise.
“The United States must maintain the ability to oppose any resort to force or coercion that would endanger the security of the Taiwanese people,” said Mr. McCaul, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. “That is what we stand for and we will continue to say that.”
Mr. McCaul, a Republican, traveled to Taipei this week with a bipartisan delegation of other U.S. lawmakers in an effort, he said, to demonstrate that the U.S. government was aligned with Mr. Lai and Taiwan.
The trip, which will last all week, comes at a difficult time: just days after Mr Lai was sworn in and he promised in his inaugural speech To defend Taiwan's sovereignty, China responded by surrounding the self-governing island with naval ships and military aircraft. Before the lawmakers arrived, the Chinese government had publicly warned them to “seriously adhere to the One China Policy” and “not plan a congressional visit to Taiwan.”
Just a few days ago, China “conducted two days of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait to express its displeasure against President Lai,” Lin Chia-lung, Taiwan's foreign minister, told Mr. McCaul at a news conference on Monday .
“It can be said that it is a powerful display at this critical time,” Mr. Lin added.
While many Republicans in Congress have objected to continuing U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, support for Taiwan has largely remained a bipartisan effort. A number of conservatives have argued that the United States should withdraw its investments in Ukraine and instead strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region. The House of Representatives in April voted to approve $8 billion for Taiwan by a lopsided vote of 385 to 34.
“Even though there are debates about other war zones,” Mr. McCaul said, “I can tell you that there is no division or disagreement when it comes to Taiwan in Congress.”
But profound challenges remain. While there are few political hurdles to approving new tranches of aid to Taiwan, the backlog of undelivered orders for weapons and military equipment from the United States to the island has grown to nearly $20 billion. Some weapons systems Washington approved for Taiwan in 2020 have yet to be shipped.
By far the largest part of the undelivered stock consists of an order approved by the Trump administration in 2019 for 66 F-16 fighter jets, accounting for more than 40 percent of the backlog, according to Eric Gomez, a researcher at the Cato Institute in Washington who, together with a fellow researcher, running estimate of delays. Other items Taiwan is waiting for include a Harpoon coastal defense system, mobile missile launchers called HIMARS and Abrams tanks.
The additional $8 billion in military spending support for Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region approved by Congress would not make a major dent in the backlog, Mr. Gomez said. That amount includes $1.9 billion to allow the Pentagon to release weapons to send to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles, with the money then used to replenish the U.S. inventory. But the United States “doesn't have the capacity in its inventory to ship these,” Mr. Gomez said.
And fears are quietly growing among Taiwan's supporters that Western allies, including the United States, will become bogged down in other intractable conflicts — in Ukraine and the Middle East — that will further erode their ability to send weapons.
“People in Taiwan look at what happened in Hong Kong, they look at Afghanistan, they look at Putin,” Mr. McCaul said in an interview. “They're afraid this will be the next shoe to drop, and it should be.”
“I don't want anyone to think that we can't support Taiwan because of Ukraine,” he added. “The stuff going to Ukraine is old and it's old NATO stuff; this is all brand new for Taiwan. But I just think that our defense industrial base is overextended right now and can't handle this amount of conflict in the world.”
Mr. Lai, in his remarks at the Office of the President, alluded to the crucial role the United States had played in supporting the “determination of the Taiwanese people to defend their homeland.” He praised former President Ronald Reagan — a favorite among conservatives, especially Speaker Mike Johnson, who often quotes him — for his “concept of peace through strength.”
“With your support, I hope Congress will continue to help Taiwan through legislative measures,” Mr. Lai said.
The purpose of the delegation's visit, Mr. McCaul said, was to show lawmakers' determination to do just that. He said he was encouraged by the little response he and other Republicans received after Congress passed the proposal the enormous aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
“You can see the impact of the vote here,” Mr. McCaul said. “It has real life implications; it is not a political game on the floor. It has real consequences here, it has real consequences in Ukraine.”
The visiting delegation includes Mr. McCaul and Representatives Young Kim, Republican of California; Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina; Jimmy Panetta, Democrat of California; Andy Barr, Republican of Kentucky; and Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania.
Christopher Buckley reporting contributed.