WASHINGTON—The U.S. plans to redirect some of its foreign military financing allocated for Egypt to Taiwan over what it says is Egypt’s failure to make progress on human rights and other issues, according to U.S. officials.

The Biden administration has notified Congress that it would withhold $85 million in aid conditioned on the release of political prisoners, officials said, and some lawmakers are pushing to withhold another $235 million in conditional assistance that goes to Egypt, amid growing calls by Democrats to penalize Cairo for its human-rights record.

The conditional aid tied to Egypt’s human-rights record represents a fraction of the overall $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid each year, but the move comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and Cairo over human rights and support for Ukraine, as well as shifting U.S. security priorities in other parts of the world.

The administration is planning to redirect $55 million of the funding to Taiwan—where the U.S. has been looking to reinforce its military partnership in the face of rising tensions with China—and $30 million to Lebanon, several U.S. officials said. Lebanon has been in a state of political and economic crisis since a deadly explosion at the Beirut port in 2020.

“[T]o the Biden administration’s credit, over the past two years, they have withheld a portion of Egypt for military aid because of these human rights violations,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said in a statement. “There’s just no question, there has not been enough progress.”

The Egyptian Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who faces growing discontent over his country’s waning economy ahead of his coming re-election bid, pardoned several political prisoners this summer including human-rights researcher Patrick George Zaki and lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer. However, human rights groups say that effort pales in comparison to Egypt’s ongoing crackdown on dissidents, journalists and human rights advocates. An aircraft approached an airport in Taiwan, where the U.S. is stepping up to reinforce its military partnership as regional tensions rise with China.
Murphy, along with several other Democrats, has called for the remaining $235 million also to be withheld from Egypt. Many Republicans continue to argue in favor of aid to Egypt, saying it is a strategic partnership too critical to jeopardize.

For the 2022 fiscal year, $320 million in assistance to Egypt was conditioned foreign military financing—with $235 million subject to a congressional waiver and $85 million without a waiver. The deadline for deciding on whether to withhold the aid is Sept. 30.

Last year, the Biden administration withheld $130 million of foreign military aid to Egypt over its failure to fulfill human-rights conditions, while allowing some funds to go through because of a determination that Cairo had made progress on political detentions.

Meanwhile the administration has moved to bolster Taiwan’s arsenal over concerns of a potential armed conflict with China, which claims the self-governing island as its own territory. 

According to the congressional notification, the redirected aid will be aimed toward strengthening Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, including air and coastal-defense systems, drones, ballistic-missile defense and cyber defense. The U.S. might also help to provide protective gear, small, medium and heavy-weapon systems, tactical communications and ammunition.

The White House, State Department and Defense Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Last month, the administration approved the first-ever U.S. military transfer to Taiwan under a program generally reserved for assistance to sovereign, independent states—a modest $80 million of the $2 billion Congress had appropriated. Officials said that as much as $320 million is expected to be allocated for Taiwan in the near future.

The decision to withhold funding from Egypt likely will further inflame relations between Washington and Cairo, which have grown strained since President Biden took office. Egypt recently resisted requests from senior U.S. leaders to send weapons to Ukraine, despite agreeing to withhold weapons from Russia, its longtime ally. Egypt initially planned to send rockets to Russia but dropped that plan under pressure from the U.S. earlier this year.

The U.S. asked Egypt to supply artillery shells, antitank missiles, air-defense systems and small arms for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.

A senior congressional aide said that while concerns over whether Sisi’s government would continue to support U.S. efforts to blunt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are valid, Egypt has continued to work with the U.S. on issues related to security in the Gaza Strip, and ensuring safe passage of U.S. ships through the Suez Canal, despite the decision to withhold some aid in recent years. 

The remaining aid that will still go to Egypt is enough, the aide said, to ensure that U.S. national-security interests in the region are upheld.