Defense News

The U.S. is in the final stages of approving nearly $2 billion in security aid to the Indo-Pacific, one part of a broader effort to help countries defend against an increasingly aggressive China.

The package includes $1.2 billion for Taipei, $500 million for Manila and around $300 million to spread around other partners, such as Vietnam, parts of South Asia and island nations in the Pacific. The numbers aren’t yet final, since the administration is still briefing Congress, and lawmakers are allowed input. But the intent is to spend almost all of the $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing — or security assistance funded by the U.S. — passed for the region this April, said a senior State Department official.

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