Biden administration gives Taiwan $345 million in military aid from our own stockpiles...

 

An anti-amphibious landing exercise in Taiwan. AP.

The Biden administration is giving $345 million in military aid from America's own stockpiles of weapons. AP. The weapons include MANPADS, firearms and missiles. The weapons are in addition to $19 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan, which has been complicated by shortages due to the Ukraine War. These weapons will be able to avoid backlogs as they are being drawn from America's stockpiles. America still has a "one China" policy and doesn't recognize the independence of Taiwan but has been supported militarily for some time. China, of course, condemned the move. 

My Comment:

Hardly a day goes by where the Biden administration gives millions of dollars worth of weapons to some foreign government. It was bad enough that we were doing so to Ukraine but now Taiwan as well? Is there no limit to this?

One wonders where they are going to find these weapons. Firearms shouldn't be a problem, but MANPADS? Seriously? We barely have enough of those for our own forces, let alone giving them to Taiwan. And our missile stocks are low as well. Given the high tensions and slow production rates of missiles and MANPADS, giving away even more of them seems like a terrible idea. 

I don't have a problem with selling weapons to Taiwan. If they are willing to pay that's absolutely fine and is even helpful as it helps our weapons industries. But just giving weapons away? That's something totally different. I don't understand why Taiwan is a priority over our own forces here.

It also makes me pretty nervous that the Biden administration is trying to start yet another war. China is already upset that our support for Taiwan happens in the first place. They are not going to be happy about this at all, and may even consider it a casus belli for war. My gut says that China is not ready for war yet but it certainly could happen. They consider Taiwan to be their clay and they are willing to fight for it. 

Unlike Ukraine at least, we do have a strategic interest in Taiwan. They are a major source of computer chips that we need for just about everything these days. And I am a lot more sympathetic to the Taiwanese people than I would ever be to the the Ukrainians. But I do think we should actually have a discussion if going to war with China, a war that we could very well lose or have it expand into a nuclear exchange, is actually worth it.