BREAKING NEWS: New US President Donald Trump halted all US foreign aid cash going to Taiwan and Ukraine “with immediate effect”, Politico reported last night.

All overseas payments worldwide except for those to Israel and Egypt will stop for a 90-day review, the news website reported, after speaking to one current State Department official, plus two former Biden administration officials.

The order, sent to consuls worldwide yesterday by new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “appears to stop aid to key allies such as Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan” the news outlet said, adding that the document “shocked State Department officials”.

In Taiwan’s case, the move will make East Asia safer, rather than less safe, analysts believe.

FREEZE FROM BOTH SIDES
The move coincidentally took place at the same time that Taiwan’s democratically elected parliamentarians voted for a partial freeze on spending on US weapons from their side.

The western mainstream media have been predicting that mainland China is on the verge of “invading” Taiwan for 40 years, but citizens have grown skeptical.

The US sends heavy financial and military support to Taiwan, Ukraine and Jordan so they can be used as tools against neighboring nations considered competitors or adversaries.

ORDER TO DIPLOMATS
Rubio yesterday ordered the instruction to be sent to all US diplomatic and consular posts worldwide. It requires staff to send out “stop-work orders” on “existing foreign assistance awards” with immediate effect, according to the document seen by Politico.

This order goes further than the Executive Order signed by President Trump on Monday, which was assumed to not apply to funds which had already been appropriated, or to military aid to Ukraine. This step indicates a far more dramatic and sweeping cut which applies immediately.

For decades, analysts have said that cutting military US aid to Taiwan will make East Asia safer. In 1982, the US itself acknowledged this and promised to completely phase out weapons sales to Taiwan. But the pledge was never followed through.