[Central News Agency] U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said today that he agrees with the assessment of intelligence agencies that the Communist Army will have the ability to invade Taiwan by 2027. The U.S. is actively examining the most effective way to support Taiwan’s defense. The person involved in the arms sales case to Taiwan.

Blinken (Antony Blinken) made the above remarks in response to questions from Republican Senator Bill Hagerty (Bill Hagerty) at the Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing this morning.

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Cabinet officials of the Biden administration will go to Capitol Hill today and tomorrow to explain the $6.9 trillion budget for fiscal year 2024.

Blinken, who is in charge of foreign affairs, has four budget hearings in two days. He will go to the Appropriations Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate today, and then to the Foreign Affairs Committee and Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives tomorrow.

Hegerty asked Blinken whether he agreed with CIA Director William Burns' statement last month that the Communist Army would be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027.

Blinken said he agreed with Burns' assessment.

Hegerty continued to be concerned about US aid to Taiwan, saying that the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes Taiwan to provide up to US$2 billion in free military aid each year through the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, but Only $113 million will be added to the FMF line for the new year to address "emerging global priorities."

According to the budget statement, the increase allows the State Department more flexibility in responding to emerging foreign policy priorities; Taiwan is listed as one of the priority partners.

In response, Blinken pointed out that the FMF is only one of the tools, and the United States is actively examining the most effective way to support Taiwan's defense.

He said that in the past 10 years, the State Department has notified Congress that the total amount of arms sales to Taiwan has reached nearly 40 billion U.S. dollars. From 2019 to now, the total has reached 21 billion U.S. dollars. He is the person who signed the most arms sales to Taiwan among the previous secretaries of state. .

Blinken also applauded Taiwan's substantial increase in its defense budget, which will allow it to have additional funds to purchase necessary defense equipment.

In order to promote the global interests of the United States and respond to the challenges of China and Russia, the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have prepared a budget of US$63.1 billion for fiscal year 2024, an increase of approximately US$2.7 billion over the previous year, of which the budget for the Indo-Pacific region increased by 18%.

In response to the strategic competition between the United States and China, US$2 billion will be invested in the new year as strategic hardware infrastructure funds to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative; another US$2 billion will be allocated to strengthen the Indo-Pacific economy and assist allies in resisting China’s predatory behavior.

In the part of supporting Ukraine, 1.7 billion U.S. dollars will be invested to help Ukraine win the war.

(Editor: Chen Zhengjian) 1120323