The delay in weapons deliveries to Taiwan are a result of a systematic slowdown of the US industrial base rather than a backlog, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said in a congressional hearing on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2023) The delay in weapons deliveries to Taiwan are a result of a systematic slowdown of the US industrial base rather than a backlog, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said in a congressional hearing on Thursday.
"What we are facing is not a backlog as is sometimes described, but rather concerns and slowdowns within all of our industrial base that is affecting our military production and our defense industrial base systematically, not individually as it relates to Taiwan," Ratner told the US House Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
Ratner called on Congress to put appropriations against the authorities that the legislative body has granted the Defense Department.
"That would go a long way in expediting capability for Taiwan far faster, far sooner and with more significant value than" speeding up foreign military sales, Ratner said.
At present, nearly $19 billion worth of foreign military sales items have been approved but not delivered to Taiwan.
