Taipei: Defense and Military Issues,” the CRS described arms sales as “the most concrete U.S. contribution to Taiwan’s defense capabilities,” noting that the majority are conducted through the U.S. government’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system.
According to Focus Taiwan, between 2015 and 2025, the U.S. executive branch notified Congress of over US$28 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan. Moreover, the 117th U.S. Congress, which sat from January 2021 to January 2023, authorized new pathways for arms transfers under the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act. The act made presidential drawdown authority (PDA) available to Taiwan for the first time, allowing the U.S. Department of Defense to supply equipment and services directly from its inventory. Since the law’s enactment, the executive branch has announced three PDA packages for Taiwan totaling US$1.5 billion.
Beyond weapons transfers, the report said U.S.-Taiwan security cooperation also includes training conducted both in Taiwan and the United States. Although such cooperation is generally not widely publicized, it “appears to be expanding,” the CRS stated, citing Taiwan’s participation in the United States’ International Military Education and Training (IMET) program since 2023.
From 2019 to 2023, Taiwan’s defense budget grew at an average annual rate of nearly 5 percent, according to the report. Despite the spending increases, the report said Taiwan faces challenges in achieving its defense goals, including disagreements among policymakers over how best to deter military threats from China. It also pointed to difficulties Taiwan faces in military recruitment, training and retention, as well as concerns that civil defense efforts are insufficient.
The report highlighted societal concerns, noting that it is unclear what costs Taiwan’s population would be willing or able to bear in the event of a cross-Strait conflict in terms of economic security, physical safety, and lives. Furthermore, vulnerabilities in Taiwan’s energy, food, water, communications, and other infrastructure to external disruption were also mentioned.
Supervised by the Library of Congress, the CRS aims to provide U.S. lawmakers with nonpartisan research and policy analysis.