Biden wants to arm Taiwan against China, use Ukraine budget request to do it

It has been revealed that President Joe Biden is seeking to fund the provision of weapons to Taiwan via an upcoming budget request for Ukraine. The request would have to be approved by Congress. 

The move comes on the heels of a promise to supply $345 million in arms through the "presidential drawdown authority" as the United States ramps up its efforts to deter escalation between Taiwan and China.

According to the Financial Times, two sources familiar with the issue said that Biden will ask Congress to include funds specifically for weapons to Taiwan in the supplemental Office of Management and Budget request. The request is expected to be made by the end of the month.

If approved by Congress, the weapons would come from the taxpayer-funded "foreign military financing" program, which "provides grants for the acquisition of US defense equipment, services and training, which promotes US national security by contributing to regional and global stability, strengthening military support for democratically-elected governments, and containing transnational threats including terrorism and trafficking in narcotics, weapons, and persons."

The grants provided "enable key allies and friends to improve their defense capabilities and foster closer military relationships between the US and recipient nations."

While the US has assisted Taiwan militarily on many occasions in the past, this would be the first time the nation was included in a foreign military financing request.

In an interview with the FT, Beacon Global Strategies managing director Eric Sayers applauded the planned course of action, calling it a "monumental step that signals how far the US government is now willing to go to accelerate deterrence across the Taiwan Strait."

He added that after decades of selling arms to Taiwan, deploying "both the tools of drawdown authority and foreign military financing ... [which] have been so successful in Ukraine," would signal a shift in the United States' commitment to protecting the island from Chinese threats.