Delays in selling a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan are based on worries about shortages in U.S. military production of needed weapons, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The secretary, also the White House national security adviser, told reporters in New York on Wednesday that foreign sales of American weaponry, including to Taiwan, must be weighed against military-industrial capacity.
“This is not about Taiwan in specific, but when we sell something, that means we don’t have it anymore,” he said. “We can get it in the future, but we don’t have it now.”
The Trump administration agreed to sell $11 billion in arms to Taiwan in December. But a new $14 billion arms package focused on missile defenses is being held up despite approval by Congress in January.
Arms sales to Taiwan are opposed by China and the topic was expected to be a major item of discussion during Thursday’s White House talks between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In Beijing, a Chinese military spokesman said the United States should use “extreme caution” when conducting arms sales to Taiwan.
“It should be emphasized that the Taiwan question is the most important in China-U.S. relations and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common issue of the two countries,” People’s Liberation Army Sr. Col. Jiang Bin said during a Defense Ministry briefing Thursday.
“It is hoped that the U.S. side will handle the Taiwan issue with extreme caution.”
Mr. Xi said in remarks at the White House before a closed-door meeting with Mr. Trump that the U.S. and China should coexist in peace and avoid conflict and confrontation.
“Our two militaries should maintain regular dialogue and improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention. The Thucydides trap can be overcome,” he said.
The Thucydides trap — the idea that a rising power and a declining power are destined for war — has been part of an ongoing Chinese propaganda campaign.
On Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell and three other Republican senators wrote to Mr. Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ask why the administration has not followed through on approving the $14 billion package.
Mr. Trump has said he raised the held-up $14 billion arms package with Mr. Xi at his May meeting in Beijing. “It’s a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly,” the president told Fox News at the time. “It’s a lot of weapons.”
The stalled arms package includes air defense missiles, including Patriot PAC-3 interceptors, and advanced surface-to-air missile systems.
If eventually sold to Taiwan, the new package would be the largest single U.S. military assistance package for Taiwan to date.
China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, stated in a front-page People’s Daily article this week that Taiwan and human rights are “red lines” for Beijing that cannot be crossed.
Mr. Xie urged the U.S. to stop “fabricating pretexts” on national security matters, economic imbalances and forced labor to constrain China.
“China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests cannot be violated, and four red lines — the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, development paths and systems, and development rights — cannot be challenged,” he said.
Since 2022, Chinese military operations around Taiwan have increased sharply, including warship deployments and warplane flights that crossed the median line down the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial marker of territorial zones.
Mr. Xi told the president he hopes the U.S. will oppose Taiwan independence and handle the Taiwan issue with “prudence” as a foundation for strategic cooperation and the development of U.S.-China ties, the official Xinhua news agency reported from the closed-door talks.
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