A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are governed by multi-year administrative processing timelines and remain entirely separate from current military operations in the Middle East.
That account was provided after congressional testimony had raised the prospect that a pause in shipments was intended to preserve munitions for U.S. actions overseas.
The defense package at issue, valued at about $14 billion, has come under closer scrutiny since President Trump said he had not yet decided whether to approve it following a recent summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.
Uncertainty increased during testimony on Thursday when Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Hung Cao told a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee that transfers to Taiwan had been paused so the U.S. military could retain sufficient ammunition supplies for Operation Epic Fury attacks against Iran.
According to the source who spoke to Reuters, that testimony does not reflect how Taiwan arms sales are processed. The source said U.S. military stockpiles are adequate to meet required objectives and that the Taiwan transfers are structurally unrelated to the conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel in February.
The legal framework shaping Washington's obligations toward Taiwan remains the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which requires the United States to provide Taiwan with defensive capabilities needed to resist threats in the region.
Beijing has repeatedly demanded an immediate halt to all U.S.-Taiwan military transfers. Taiwan's government, meanwhile, said on Friday it had received no formal notifications indicating delays in U.S. supplies and reiterated its rejection of China's sovereignty claims.
President Trump is expected to make a formal determination on the multi-billion-dollar weapons package in the near term.
Context note - The clarification from the source followed public testimony that had suggested a link between ammunition needs for operations in the Middle East and the timing of Taiwan arms shipments. Officials familiar with the matter told Reuters that such a link does not alter the multi-year administrative procedures governing the sales.