Senior members of the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would force US President Barack Obama to consult with Congress and keep it informed about potential arms sales to Taiwan.
Sources said that one immediate impact would be to pressure the White House to make a decision on Taiwan’s request to buy 66 advanced F-16 C/D fighters.
Advisers to Obama have recently indicated that at this stage a decision is not likely to be made until well into next year.
The new bill — H.R. 4102 — was introduced by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Taiwan Caucus co-chairs Shelley Berkley, Phil Gingrey and Lincoln Diaz-Balart plus four other representatives.
If passed, it would require the Obama administration to provide detailed briefings to Congress on all US arms sales to Taiwan and would “mandate briefings no later than 90 days after the date of the enactment and at least annually thereafter.
In addition the secretary of state, in consultation with the secretary of defense, would be required to inform Congress about any discussions between any US government officials and the government of Taiwan.
The briefings must include any potential transfer of weapons or defense services to Taiwan.
The idea is to ensure that Congress is fully informed of the administration’s arms talks with Taiwan and is not surprised — as has happened in the past — by White House decisions coming out of the blue.
The introduction of the bill was timely “because Taiwan supporters are disturbed by President Obama’s statements in China,” said Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a group based in Washington.
“He failed to mention the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA] while saying that the US respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity through the three joint communiques. That’s likely to embolden China to press even harder her spurious claim over Taiwan,” Yang said.
“Such statements seriously undermine US legitimacy to continue providing defense articles and services to Taiwan as codified in the TRA,” he said.
“For the past few years, members of Congress have been expressing strong concern about the stalemate in US arms sales to Taiwan. Their repeated appeals to the administration have gone unheeded. Annual briefings, as mandated by this bill, will reassert Congress’ prerogative to co-determine with the president the nature and the quantity of defense articles and services sold to Taiwan,” Yang said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS