As one George W. Bush administration official put it: “We could barely get South Korean and Japanese leaders to meet with us in the same room.” Biden continued to strengthen U.S. alliances to counter China in other ways, as well, conducting joint military drills with Japan and Australia in Chinese-claimed areas of the South China Sea; launching the second pillar of his historic agreement with Britain and Australia (known as AUKUS) to jointly develop advanced military capabilities to counter Beijing; holding his third leader-level summit of the Indo-Pacific Quad (Japan, Australia, India and the United States); and conducting a state visit to Hanoi to strengthen our partnership with Vietnam.
This project aims to fast-track weapons development and production so the Defense Department can rapidly field thousands of inexpensive, disposable unmanned systems (such as “swarm drones”) with the goal of delivering new capabilities to U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region in 18 to 24 months to help counter China’s military buildup.
The $80 million arms sale was unprecedented — the first ever approved for Taiwan using the Foreign Military Financing program that allows partner nations to purchase U.S. defense articles, services and training through grants or loans — a move that angered Beijing.
After first refusing to negotiate with the new GOP House majority, he relented and signed a debt limit deal that reduced discretionary spending, added welfare work requirements, pared back his IRS expansion and ended the pandemic pause on student loan repayments.
This aid is not only decimating the Russian military threat to NATO; it is also creating jobs and revitalizing manufacturing communities across the United States and restoring U.S. capacity to produce weapons for our own national defense.
And one achievement should be on this list but is not: We reached the end of the year without a deal on fundamental changes to border security policy in exchange for new military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
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