House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned President Biden not to make the same mistake with Taiwan related to delaying the sale of military weapons as the administration previously did with Ukraine.
“What if you had provided them weapons they could buy that deterred Russia from ever invading? How many lives would have been saved?” Mr. McCarthy asked the president at his weekly press conference Wednesday. “We would be in a different situation today. And we should take that exact same lesson and not slow down any weapons sales to Taiwan either.”
Mr. McCarthy also asked, “If you have the intel that they were going to invade, would you really think the best question is I’ll put sanctions on you after you invade? And then when you put the sanctions on you listen to President Biden, who said, ’This won’t work for months, though.’”
Other GOP lawmakers have called on the administration to provide Taiwan with the military gear it needs to fend off a potential invasion by China.
“President Biden’s refusal to sanction Russia prior to their publicly known invasion of Ukraine, or to have a package of sanctions ready to sign the moment an invasion began, was a grave miscalculation. Biden should learn from this and take appropriate steps to protect Taiwan,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement late last week.
“The U.S. government should increase sales of military equipment to Taiwan focused on deterring a potential PRC invasion. It would also be prudent to consider stationing naval assets near the Taiwan Strait.”
Sen. Todd Young, Indiana Republican, wants the U.S. to authorize additional foreign military sales to Taiwan for items like anti-ship missiles to shore up its defenses.
“Our unified response in Ukraine should send a message of deterrence to Beijing of what will await if they invade Taiwan,” Mr. Young tweeted last Wednesday.
Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Kevin Kramer of North Dakota and John Kennedy of Louisiana coauthored legislation titled “Deterring Communist Chinese Aggression Against Taiwan Through Financial Sanctions Act.”
The bill would cut off all financial transactions between the U.S. and China if China engages in “armed aggression against Taiwan or its territories, invades Taiwan or its territories, blockades Taiwan or its territories, or attempts to change the status of Taiwan’s governance through the use of force.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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