TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Four US senators released a joint letter on Thursday that urged the Legislative Yuan to pass the special defense budget and added that new US arms sales would be announced in the coming weeks.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, Jacky Rosen, Thom Tillis, and John Curtis, previously visited Taiwan, per CNA. The letter was addressed to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), Legislative Yuan Vice President Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), KMT Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭), and TPP Legislator Wang An-hsiang (王安祥).
The letter said that after visiting Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul, they were convinced that Taiwan must invest in critical capabilities to deter Chinese aggression. It expressed confidence that Taiwan’s party leaders would quickly reach a consensus and choose a path that “reflects the aspirations of an overwhelming majority of its people.”
It added that during meetings with the legislature, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and his national security team had longstanding expectations of Washington. These include an upcoming formal notification to Congress of major defensive arms sales to Taiwan. The letter added that further arms sales are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The senators called for expanding the NT$347 billion (US$11.1 billion) arms package announced in December. They urged the Legislative Yuan to approve a special defense budget to be used not only for procurement from the US but also to accelerate domestic production of asymmetric defense capabilities.
The letter said that wars in Ukraine and Iran demonstrate that modern warfare requires low-cost, dynamic systems such as those being developed by Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. It added that “Beijing is testing the limits of what it can achieve through cross-strait military aggression and one-sided political outreach.”
It said nothing demonstrates resolve more clearly than Taiwan’s investment in “long-term deterrence rooted in indigenous production.”
The letter concluded that the partnership between the US and the people of Taiwan remains “rock solid,” built on shared democratic values, deep economic ties, and a commitment to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
