Representational image
Representational image
Two days after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will soon send additional security assistance to Taiwan through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), China was quick to express its diplomatic discontent saying that it was a “very wrong and dangerous move”, according to a report.
The PDA is a valuable tool of US foreign policy in crisis situations as it allows for the speedy delivery of defense articles and services from Department of Defense stocks to foreign countries and international organisations to respond to unforeseen emergencies, according to a US government website.
It allowed the Biden administration to send arms to Ukraine without going through the Congress
Earlier this month, the White House said that it will send $500 million worth of weapons aid to Taiwan using the PDA.
“Such assistance can begin arriving within days, or even hours, of approval,” Asia Times quoted the US government as saying in a fact sheet on 9 May
However, China reacted sharply to the development saying that it was a “very wrong and dangerous move.”
“China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes this, and has expressed diplomatic discontent against the US,” Asia Times report quoted Tan Kefei, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defence, as saying in a media briefing on Tuesday.
“The US has continuously strengthened its military ties with the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) authorities, enhanced military ties and substantive relations between the two sides, shaken the foundation of China-US relations and undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Tan added.
‘Taiwan red line in Sino-US relations’
Noting that Taiwan issue is an insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations, Tan said that Washington will never be allowed to reverse the course of history.
He said the DPP, a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party, and Taiwanese separatists will be headed for a dead end if they try to use support including weapons from the US to promote Taiwan’s independence.
According to the report, in a strong message, Tan said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will continuously strengthen its military training and preparations, resolutely smash any form of Taiwan independence and external interference attempts and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Last year, the US Congress increased the cap on the PDA from $100 million to $11 billion for fiscal year 2022 after the Ukrainian war broke out. Since last August, the Biden Administration has employed the tool 37 times to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
Taiwan likely to feature in G7 summit
The Taiwan-China tension will be among the key discussion topics in the G7 Summit, which will be held in Hiroshima between 19 and 21 May.
In an interview to Nikkei Asia on Monday, Japan’s Prime Minister said,” Unilaterally changing the status quo with force should not be allowed anywhere in the world.”
“The security environment surrounding Japan is changing rapidly. And it is getting more complex,” he added.
Days before the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Taiwan has begun an extensive online war-gaming exercise to review its readiness to deal with any Chinese attacks or invasion.
On its part, China carried out a 12-day circumnavigation of Japan with its naval flotilla led by a powerful destroyer in a powerful display of military power to warn Tokyo not to get involved in the ongoing crisis between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan.
As the G7 summit approaches, China has been trying to lower the temperature by highlighting the peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese mainland to ensure the possibility of a war over Taiwan does not spark tension in the Group of Seven.
The mixed signals from China over the past week might have stemmed from its assessment that a military conflict with the US and its Asian allies over Taiwan would not be in China’s best interest.
US troops in Taiwan
Citing unnamed US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported in October 2021 that some two dozen special operations troops from the US Defense Department had been deployed to train Taiwan’s armed forces. On February 23 this year, the same paper reported that the US would send 100-to-200 troops to Taiwan over the next few months to help train the island’s army.
This came after the US Congress last December passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorized up to $10 billion in security assistance and fast-tracked weapons procurement for Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on May 4 that Taiwan had ordered 66 units of F-16V fighters from Lockheed Martin in the US but the delivery of the first batch of the jets has been delayed to the third quarter of 2024 from the last quarter of this year as production was affected by the pandemic.
With inputs from agencies
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