US Lawmakers Pressure Taiwan To Pass $40bn Defense Budget
February 13, 2026
1:30 am
A cross-party group of 37 American legislators has formally urged Taiwan’s parliament to approve a stalled $40 billion defense spending package, warning that Chinese military pressure on the island has reached its most dangerous level in decades and that political gridlock in Taipei risks sending the wrong signal to Beijing.
The letter, released Thursday and addressed to parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu and the leaders of Taiwan’s main opposition parties, marks the most direct legislative intervention yet by U.S. lawmakers in Taiwan’s domestic budget debate. The signatories included senior members of both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign …
