TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has around US$19 billion (NT$589 billion) in arms sales currently delayed in the U.S. amid rising military tensions with China.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), U.S. government and congressional officials are concerned the war in Ukraine is adding to a hold up in arms shipments to Taiwan, as Washington continues to supply Kyiv with much needed weapons in its fight against Moscow.

Sources told The WSJ that last December the backlog of shipments was valued at upwards of US$14 billion, but has now grown to around US$18.7 billion. Of the delayed shipments are an order for 208 Javelin antitank weapons made in December 2015 and another order made at the same time for 215 surface-to-air Stinger missiles, the report noted.

A Taiwanese government spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. did not provide comment on the delayed arms shipments, but officials from the East Asian nation have previously voiced concerns about the hold-ups. Meanwhile, both the State Department and Pentagon declined to acknowledge the backlog and did not provide information on which weapons to Taiwan were being delayed, according to The WSJ.

However, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission pointed to delays for Stingers and Paladin self-propelled howitzer artillery. “The diversion of existing stocks of weapons and munitions to Ukraine and pandemic-related supply-chain issues have exacerbated a sizable backlog in the delivery of weapons already approved for sale to Taiwan” undermining the country’s readiness, the commission said in a report this month, The WSJ added.

American government officials have noted the arms delays to Taiwan, but say those weapons are newly manufactured, while Javelins and Stingers sent to Ukraine are coming from existing U.S. munitions, per the report. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., and other defense suppliers say they have struggled to keep up with orders even before demand from the invasion of Ukraine due to pandemic-induced supply-chain issues.

Washington has agreed to sell Taiwan almost US$30 billion in arms since 2009, including nearly US$18 billion since 2017, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said during testimony in April cited by The WSJ. Sherman added that the State Department and the Pentagon are reviewing the defense-trade sector to see where they can improve efficiencies to get weapons to Taiwan faster.

The American military is also looking to increase weapons manufacturing to replenish stockpiles, which could speed up deliveries, said Doug Bush, the Army’s chief acquisition official.

The report also said arms sales to Taiwan since 2019 include systems also being used in Ukraine, including Javelins, Stinger missiles, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and howitzers. Taiwan also signed an agreement in March for Harpoon antiship missiles, which are not scheduled to be delivered until at least 2026, officials told The WSJ.

China has continued to increase diplomatic, economic, and military pressure on Taiwan in recent years and has never ruled out trying to take the country by force. Incursions into the country’s air defense identification zone have become a nearly daily commonplace since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August.