Among the foreign-aid expenditures that have now been restored in the context of the Trump administration’s 90-day pause to review the spending is $870 million for security-related programs in the Republic of China (“US exempts security funds for Taiwan,” Taipei Times, February 23, 2025).
Reuters obtained a list of 243 further exceptions approved as of Thursday last week totaling US$5.3 billion….
An article on the White House’s Web site titled “America Is Back—and President Trump Is Just Getting Started” listed items it said were among Trump’s “wins after just one month” in office.
Among them was “Taiwan pledged to boost its investment in the United States,” which included a hyperlink to a Financial Times article published on Friday last week on President William Lai’s pledge to boost procurement and investment in the US in response to “Trump’s global tariff threats and pressure on Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.”…
Meanwhile, Rubio on Thursday reaffirmed Washington’s opposition to any forced change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, saying that the US does not seek conflict and remains committed to its long-standing policies on Taiwan.
U.S. policy toward the Republic of China is not as good as it could be. But it hasn’t gone off the rails either, despite the fears expressed in urgent explanations about the geopolitical value of aid to Taiwan that have been offered in Taiwan and elsewhere.
