The United States will focus on Taipei’s military needs again after the end of the conflict in Ukraine, and Washington is now making efforts to speed up supplies to the island, Raymond Green, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, said in an interview.
⠀
“If the conflict in Ukraine ends, we will probably be able to focus on Taiwan’s defense needs again,” he said.
⠀
Commenting on the delays in sending weapons to Taipei, he noted that the American defense industry is working at its limit, which affects the deadlines for completing some orders.
⠀
“This is, of course, related to the conflict in Ukraine and the fighting in the Middle East,” Green stressed.
⠀
According to him, “China is demonstrating increasingly aggressive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region.”
⠀
“As a result, many countries have increased their defense budgets and are seeking to purchase American military equipment,” Green said.
⠀
He added that Taiwan remains a priority for Washington.
⠀
“Therefore, we are making efforts to accelerate supplies, especially of weapons for asymmetric warfare, as they are of the greatest importance to Taiwan,” the source said.
⠀
Official relations between the central government of the People’s Republic of China and its island province were interrupted in 1949 after the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who were defeated in the civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and the mainland resumed in the late 1980s.
⠀
Since the early 1990s, the parties began to interact through non-governmental organizations such as the Beijing Association for the Development of Cross—Strait Relations and the Taipei Cross-Strait Exchange Foundation.
⠀
The situation around Taiwan escalated significantly in August 2022, when former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited the island. China condemned the visit, seeing it as support for Taiwanese separatism, and conducted large-scale military exercises.
⠀
Beijing has repeatedly called on Washington to respect the “one China” principle, stop sending weapons to Taiwan, and support the island’s peaceful reunification with the mainland.
