Rep. Mike McCaul: US Needs to Start Arming Taiwan 'Right Now'

The United States must start arming Taiwan "right now," not waiting until China invades it, Rep. Michael McCaul said Sunday.

"The next shoe that could drop would be Taiwan," the Texas Republican said on CNN's "State of the Union," adding that Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping is watching carefully what is happening in Ukraine.

"We cannot make the mistake we've made in Ukraine and wait until after the invasion to arm them," McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, insisted.

He also said he does not trust China and Xi's offer to play a constructive role in brokering peace in Ukraine.

"They're built on deception," McCaul said. "Remember the Beijing Olympics, this unholy alliance, arm in arm, hand in hand, standing together, Mr. Putin and Chairman Xi of China, basically saying we have an unlimited partnership, denouncing democracy and freedom and territorial aggression."

McCaul, meanwhile, said that he does not believe the weekend NATO summit developed any "deliberate rules" about helping Ukraine.

"What Ukraine needs right now are these S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, like our Patriot batteries," said McCaul. "Slovakia has these. I thought that by the end of this trip they would announce that we're sending in all these S-300s into Ukraine to help them fight the good fight. This is like David and Goliath all over again. I was in Israel. We need to give David the slingshot and what the slingshot is, which is the S-300. That's not what we are not giving them right now."

NATO, he added, can't directly provide a no-fly zone for Ukraine, but "we can give them the tools to create their own."

The congressman also discussed President Joe Biden's speech from Poland, for which the president has come under fire for saying Putin "cannot" remain in power, prompting a response from his administration that he wasn't calling for regime change.

"I think regime change is up to the Russian people," he said. "I agree with Sen. Mark Warner, that Putin is guilty of regime change in Ukraine. You know, the fact is anytime the United States had spoken out for a regime change, it hasn't worked out so well."

He added that Biden's comment was "off the cuff," but still, "whatever the president says carries a lot of weight" and in this case, his comments sent a "very provocative message to Mr. Putin. If we're so worried about provoking him that we couldn't even send MiGs into Ukraine, how is this any different? I would say it's more provocative."

However, the president's gaffe has shifted the topic of conversation, said McCaul, when at this time the discussion should center around getting Ukraine what it needs to fight Russia.

The congressman also spoke out about the news that the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have enacted a rule that will not allow girls over the sixth-grade level to continue their educations.

"It's one of the saddest things I've had to witness," he said. "I think it's the ultimate betrayal, the way we left Americans behind enemy lines, Afghan partners behind enemy lines. They are being executed by the Taliban right now, but I think most and foremost these girls and the women left behind in a society that they never lived under Sharia law so they don't know what that even means."

McCaul also said he still thinks the United States should have left a residual force in Afghanistan and should not have given up Bagram Airfield.

"We have little impact," he said. "I guess we could try to force the Taliban through other means to change its policy, but it's very difficult to do."