TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday (March 22) agreed with the assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will have the ability to invade Taiwan by 2027 and acknowledged there is "a very significant backlog" of weapons orders from Taiwan.

Blinken testified on the State Department budget before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Senator Bill Hagerty pointed out that in February, CIA Director William Joseph Burns said China seeks to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027 and asked whether Blinken agreed with the assessment.

Blinken agreed with the CIA assessment. Hagerty then said that "time is not on our side" as the U.S. has a US$19 billion dollar arms backlog with Taiwan.

Hagerty said that is why he voted for the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA) that was included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and provides Taiwan up to US$2 billion under the "Foreign Military Finance" (FMF) grant and loan assistance program designed to purchase U.S-made weapons and defense equipment between 2023 and 2027.

However, Hagerty said that he was "deeply disappointed" to find that Biden's proposed budget for this year only includes US$113 million in FMF lines. He said the proposed budget "assumes a mere US$16 million as a baseline for foreign military financing in the Indo-Pacific."

He then asked Blinken why the remaining funding was excluded from the budget. Blinken responded by saying the US$113 million request is part of the emerging priorities fund but in terms of Taiwan, and that FMF is "one tool," as well as a drawdown authority, "but we have looked at how we can be most effective in supporting Taiwan in its defense."

Blinken said the State Department has processed over the "past decade or so" nearly US$40 billion in military sales to Taiwan. Since 2019, Blinken said that there have been approximately US$21 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan.

"I have signed out more cases than any secretary of state in history for Taiwan," Blinken said. He then highlighted the fact that Taiwan has boosted its defense budget by 11%.

However, Hagerty said the State Department request period for Taiwan weapons acquisitions is far shorter than what has been allocated. He then asked whether the Chinese government had told Blinken or any other diplomats that there is "some sort of red line" when it comes to increased military financing for Taiwan.

Blinken said this was not the case and if Beijing were to issue such statements, "that's not something we would take into account." He said that although he has signed off on more weapons deals than any predecessor, he acknowledged that there is a backlog of weapons orders, "a very significant backlog."

Blinken said the backlog is the result of "production challenges." He said the Biden administration is working with U.S. manufacturers to bolster production capacity.

"That is the long pole in the tent, and we need to address it," Blinken said.

Hegarty closed by saying the U.S. missed an opportunity to use deterrence to prevent Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He said that TERA has been put in place with the aim of creating deterrence to discourage China from invading Taiwan, and he said he looks forward to working with Blinken on implementing the legislation.