US President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law the US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which for the first time included a section on senior military exchanges with Taiwan.
The bill cleared the US Senate in a 92-7 vote on Dec. 8 after its approval in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 375-34 six days earlier.
Section 1284 of the act states: “It is the sense of [US] Congress that the [US] Secretary of Defense should conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan that have the objective of improving military-to-military relations and defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.”
Screengrab from the Military News Agency Web site
A “sense of Congress” is not legally binding, even though the language is included in an otherwise legally effective legislation.
It reflects the view of many on Capitol Hill who think the current level of US military exchanges with Taiwan has been insufficient.
It remains to be seen whether or how the administration of US president-elect Donald Trump will act on this section of the act.
Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
If implemented, the act stipulates that the senior military exchange program should be conducted at least once each calendar year in both Taiwan and the US.
It defines “senior military exchange” as “an activity, exercise, professional education event, or observation opportunity in which senior military officers and senior defense officials participate.”
It also defined “senior military officer” as a general or flag officer on active duty in the armed forces, while “senior defense official,” in reference to the US Department of Defense, was defined as a civilian official at the level of assistant secretary of defense or above.
The act will elevate Taiwan-US military ties to another level if institutionalized, National Chung Hsing University Institute of International Politics professor Tsai Ming-yan (蔡明彥) said yesterday.
The law is not only symbolic, but will have some practical effects, he said, adding that Taiwan and the US would have deeper cooperation on threat assessments and battle plans.
China might become agitated over the closer Taiwan-US ties, but continued threat of armed conflict against Taiwan would only deepen Taiwan’s resolve to work with the US and Japan, Tsai said, adding that China should seek to enter into dialogue with Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense said it has made a number of plans for next year, including Political Warfare Bureau Director Wen Chen-kuo (聞振國) leading a delegation to visit the Pentagon, at which time the two sides would discuss strategic goals and cooperation on matters of psychological warfare.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS