Touch upon this storyComment
The Biden administration this week advised Congress that it intends to withhold $85 million designated for U.S. safety help to Egypt this yr, and as an alternative present the majority of the cash to Taiwan.
The choice introduced instant criticism from lawmakers that the reprogrammed quantity both wasn’t sufficient to punish Egypt for ongoing detentions of political prisoners and different human rights abuses, or that it was a paltry providing to Taiwan given the urgency of China’s aggressive conduct.
The choice to redirect $55 million from Egypt to “strengthen Taiwan’s protection capabilities” is the second time in latest weeks the administration has approved cash to Taipei beneath the International Army Financing program that beforehand was reserved for sovereign nations.
In late August, the State Division notified Congress of plans to offer $80 million within the type of assist, relatively than gross sales, of army tools to Taiwan. China instantly charged it was a violation of U.S. recognition of the “One China” coverage and Beijing’s claimed sovereignty over the self-governing island.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the highest Republican on the Senate Armed Providers Committee, stated in a press release that the reprogrammed cash was “a pittance in comparison with Taiwan’s huge wants for self-defense” towards the risk from China.
The remaining $30 million in FMF cash is slated for Lebanon, in keeping with a notification despatched to Congress late Monday. Plans to reallocate the funds to Taiwan and Lebanon had been first reported Thursday by the Wall Road Journal.
Wicker additionally lambasted the administration for taking the cash from “a distinct safety accomplice,” calling it “particularly counterproductive since Egypt has confirmed receptive to this administration’s human rights issues.”
The USA considers Egypt an important accomplice for Center East safety, and a pillar of regional stability. Each as an incentive, then a reward, for the Camp David Accords that introduced peace between Israel and Egypt in 1978, the 2 nations shortly turned the biggest recipients of U.S. safety help. Since then, the USA has offered Egypt with greater than $50 billion in army assist and $30 billion in financial help, in keeping with the State Division.
By way of most of that interval, democracy in Egypt has been beneath fixed risk, usually disappearing altogether and changed with harsh army rule, most lately in the course of the tenure of present President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi. As commander of Egypt’s army forces, he led the coup that overthrew the final elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013. In an election the next yr, he received the presidency with 97 % of the vote.
In its State Division appropriations invoice final yr, Congress directed the administration to carry again $320 million of the $1.3 billion in annual army assist the USA gave Egypt, absent human rights enhancements. Whereas the State Division canceled $130 million in army help in 2022, the administration additionally accepted a $2.5 billion arms gross sales package deal to Cairo.
In late July, 11 Democratic senators, led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to induce that the total $320 million be withheld this yr. “During the last yr, Egypt’s human rights document has continued to deteriorate, regardless of the Egyptian authorities’s claims on the contrary,” the letter stated.
Al-Sisi’s authorities has lengthy been accused of abuses towards political opponents, the media and others. Over the previous yr, the senators wrote, “the federal government has not solely failed to analyze allegations of human rights abuses, it has additionally continued to commit ‘important human rights’ violations equivalent to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture and life-threatening jail situations, and extreme restrictions on freedoms of expressions, meeting and affiliation, as documented within the State Division’s newest human rights report.”
In a Senate flooring speech Tuesday, Murphy, who chairs the Senate International Relations Subcommittee on the Close to East and sits on the Appropriations Committee, famous that “Egypt has launched greater than 1,600 political prisoners since early 2022. That’s excellent news. Throughout that very same time, they’ve jailed 5,000 extra.”
“That’s not the sort of ‘clear and constant progress’ in releasing political prisoners that the legislation requires,” Murphy stated whereas once more urging that the complete $320 million coated by the legislation be withheld.
The State Division and the Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to questions in regards to the redirected funds.
Abigail Hauslohner contributed to this report.