Ailing Republican Mitch McConnell has challenged Donald Trump on China, demanding he release billions of dollars in security aid for Taiwan as the president hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington.
Despite barely being seen in recent weeks, McConnell led a group of senators warning that Trump’s approach to Taiwan risks undermining U.S. deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, taking particular aim at the president’s description of Taiwan as “a very good negotiating chip” with Xi.
The warning came in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which featured McConnell’s signature alongside fellow Republican senators Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski and John Cornyn.
“It is difficult to imagine how the United States might credibly protect influence in the Indo-Pacific if the price of keeping up appearances is denying our partners key deterrence capabilities,” they said in a pointed letter released by his office.
“The president would do well to consider what followed when his predecessor froze a planned package of assistance to Ukraine ahead of a summit in 2021,” it added, referencing Russia’s bloody incursion a few months later.
Given McConnell’s health, it is unclear whether he signed the letter himself or if his aides did so with an auto-pen.
Since returning to work on Sept. 14, he has been pushed through the Capitol in a wheelchair and has hardly spoken, even when issuing votes in the Senate.
Equally elusive is his wife, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan and still has deep connections to China.
Indeed, the former labor secretary was in China when McConnell was hospitalized in June and curiously remained there for several days before returning home.
But the timing of the letter was hard to miss, coming as Trump gave Xi a red-carpet welcome at the White House, complete with military flyovers, fawning speeches, and a silent Marine platoon salute.
Later on Thursday, the president will host Xi and his wife at a lavish state dinner with tech titans such as Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
The menu for the dinner was curated by First Lady Melania Trump and features American ingredients with “subtle Chinese influence” and a toast of Schramsberg Blanc De Noir sparkling wine, a nod to the “Toast to Peace” between former President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing in 1972.
But the visit is contentious for Trump, whose own MAGA and GOP allies have questioned the optics of hosting a Communist Party dictator aligned with Iran, particularly as the party rails against the “threat” of communism ahead of the midterms.
Taiwan is also a highly sensitive issue for China, which views the self-governing island as its most vital core interest and treats it as a strict red line.
However, the letter demands the administration release $1.3 billion in already-approved Taiwan security assistance and move forward with a separate $14 billion weapons package that Trump has put on hold.
The senators also reminded Rubio and Hegseth of their past comments about the need to deter an invasion of Taiwan by China.
“Secretary Rubio, your former Senate colleagues remember well the prominent and vocal role you played in marshaling Congressional support for deeper and more unflinching security cooperation with Taiwan,” they wrote.
“Secretary Hegseth, you have likewise made clear that the United States ‘will not let our allies and partners be subordinated and intimidated’ and warned that ‘the threat China poses is real.’”
McConnell has long had a testy relationship with Trump, with periods of pragmatic alliance.
For instance, Trump repeatedly attacked McConnell when he was leader of the Senate for his failure to repeal Obamacare, while McConnell said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6 attack in 2021.
The other senators who signed the letter have also been among the few GOP members to speak out against the president.
