Rubio says delay in arms sales to Taiwan based on U.S. weapons-building concerns
by Bill Gertz · The Washington TimesDelays 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, who is also the White House national security adviser, told reporters in New York 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 defense 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.
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 development of U.S.-China ties, the official Xinhua news agency reported from the closed-door talks.
In Beijing, a Chinese military spokesman said the United States should use “extreme caution” in 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.
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“It is hoped that the U.S. side will handle the Taiwan issue with extreme caution.”
Col. Jiang also said U.S.-China military relations should be maintained as stable, sound and sustainable.
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 dialog 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.
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Mr. Rubio said all arms sales to foreign states require balancing between U.S. needs in different parts of the world and “whether we can afford to sell something, because we may need it for ourselves.”
The current $14 billion package is undergoing that review process, he said, noting that the issue is expected to be discussed in talks with Chinese officials.
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 in approving the $14 billion package.
The senators also raised concerns about incomplete efforts to move forward on $300 million in military financing for Taiwan and a $1 billion program approved last year called the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.
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“We are concerned by President Trump’s description of Taiwan as ’a very good negotiating chip’ in engagements with Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party,” the letter states.
“It is difficult to imagine how the United States might credibly project influence in the Indo-Pacific if the price of keeping up diplomatic appearances is denying our partners key deterrent capabilities.”
Mr. Trump has said he raised the delayed $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.
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If eventually sold to Taiwan, the new package would be the largest single U.S. military assistance package for Taiwan to date.
The Iran war has produced significant shortages of Patriot and Terminal High-Altitude Aerea Defense (THAAD) missile interceptors, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has analyzed the missile firings.
The Pentagon announced multi-billion-dollar contracts in August for U.S. defense contractors to rapidly produce Patriot, THAAD and SM-3 and SM-6 anti-missile interceptors.
The four senators also urged President Trump to remember what happened after then-President Biden in 2021 held up security assistance to Ukraine before a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Eight months after that summit, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine setting off the current conflict.
U.S. military commanders have warned that Mr. Xi has ordered the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to use force to annex Taiwan by next year.
In addition to Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, other signers were Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tom Tillis of North Carolina.
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.
Retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell said Mr. Rubio dodged answering the question about the arms sale package to Taiwan at the same time that Mr. Xi is threatening “the Thucydides trap” of a coming conflict.
“Secretary Rubio has a long tradition of speaking directly about the importance of standing up to Communist China and this reply is another worrisome indicator,” said Capt. Fanell, a former Pacific Fleet intelligence chief.
China expert Rick Fisher said weakening deterrence in the Taiwan Strait is not just about a future “horrific Chinese war against Taiwan.”
“That war will quickly lead to successive Chinese wars against Japan, the Philippines and India — all of which could risk American forces and lives,” said Mr. Fisher, who is with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
“Whatever the calculation, delays for the latest $14 billion Taiwan arms sales package are frustrating, but also consider Trump’s record, the largest single $11 billion weapons package in 2025 and should the $14 billion be approved, a two-term arms sales record approaching $40 billion — more than twice that of [President] Obama’s eight years,” he said.
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are governed by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act that calls for supplying defense weapons.
Other arms sales agreements include three joint U.S.-China communiques, including a 1982 understanding that then-President Reagan said describes the level of U.S. arms sales as conditioned on the prevailing threat to the island.
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.
Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the Pacific Command, has called some of the deployments “rehearsals” for a Chinese invasion or blockade.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Roger Wicker criticized the lavish welcome granted to Mr. Xi in Senate floor remarks noting China’s “massive” military buildup targeting the U.S.
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