By Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - The United States will likely approve pending weapons sales to Taiwan in coming weeks, a bipartisan group of senators assured Taiwanese lawmakers in a letter, urging Taipei to hasten its stalled defense spending in the face of pressure from China.
The letter comes ahead of a planned May 14-15 trip to China by U.S. President Donald Trump, whose moves to secure a favorable trade deal with China's leader Xi Jinping have raised concerns in the U.S. and Taiwan that he could curb Washington's military support for the democratically governed island.
"The United States Congress is fully committed to the timely delivery of critical capabilities to Taiwan and we expect that pending sales will be announced in the coming weeks," Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in the letter seen by Reuters. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Republican senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah also signed the letter.
Those packages include "counter-drone assets, an integrated battle command system, and medium-range munitions to enhance Taiwan's air defenses," the senators said in the April 14 message addressed to Taiwan parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) party and top lawmakers of other Taiwan political parties.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te last year proposed $40 billion in extra defense spending to counter China. But the opposition, led by the KMT, has tied up the proposal in favor of its own, less expensive plan.
Last week, KMT Chair Cheng Li-wun visited China on what she called a peace mission to reduce tensions at a time when Beijing has stepped up military pressure against the island it claims as its territory.
U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly pushed Taiwan's parliament to move forward with the defense outlays, and the letter reiterated the importance of enabling "not only procurement of American equipment but also speedier domestic production of asymmetric capabilities."
China has long demanded a halt to weapons sales to Taiwan by the U.S., the island's most important international backer despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Xi told Trump in February that arms sales to Taiwan must be handled with "prudence," and the Chinese leader is expected to press the Taiwan issue during Trump's visit.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration in December approved a record $11 billion in weapons sales to Taiwan.
Reuters has reported that weapons packages worth as much as $14 billion could be announced by the administration sometime following his trip, which was delayed from early April.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically governed Taiwan under its control. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China, but been rebuffed, and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)
