Iran war is not delaying US weapons shipments to Taiwan, officials say

The war on Iran has not delayed shipments of weapons to Taiwan or changed US policy toward the island, officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration told members of Congress on Tuesday, despite the demands of the intense air campaign.

“Have we delayed moving things to Taiwan? We haven’t,” Stanley Brown, principal deputy assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, tells a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

The US and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on February 28, a campaign that has raised concerns among some US officials that the US defense industry would be unable to keep up with demand and could be forced to slow shipments to buyers such as Taiwan, which faces steadily rising military pressure from China.

There was already a multi-billion-dollar backlog of US arms shipments to Taiwan before the Iran war started. Brown said the administration was looking at ways to expedite shipments, without providing specifics.

Several members of the House committee raised concerns about the island during the hearing, which took place on the day Trump said he was postponing a highly anticipated trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Taiwan was one of the issues expected to be discussed by the two leaders.

China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to take the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

China held its most recent war games around Taiwan in December, and its warships and warplanes regularly operate around the island.