The US House International Relations Committee has approved legislation that would require President George W. Bush to continue to hold annual arms sales discussions with Taiwan and effectively reverse Bush's decision to end the annual sessions.
The committee, by a voice vote, tagged the measure onto a larger bill that would authorize US State Department spending for fiscal years 2002 and 2003. It was one of several provisions dealing with Taiwan that committee chairman Henry Hyde introduced at a committee meeting on the department spending legislation.
Bush said in a Washington Post interview last week that he would not hold the annual sessions, which this year generated months of tensions between Washington and Beijing, and would rather decide arms sales to Taiwan on a case-by-case basis when needed.
But the committee decided that the two-decades-old annual ritual should be continued, and ordered Bush to hold sessions annually in Washington with a military leader -- at not less than the level of Vice Chief of the General Staff -- which has been the practice.
The measure also would require Bush to confer with Congress 30 days before any sale to report on Taiwan's shopping list, the president's assessment of Taiwan's military needs, and on why the administration approved or disapproved of each item.
Among other provisions in the bill, the legislation would urge -- but not mandate -- the administration publicly to display the US flag at the office of the American Institute in Taiwan and at the residence of the director in the same manner as US embassies, consulates and official residences worldwide.
The bill would upgrade Taiwan's status under US arms export control laws, requiring the administration to treat Taiwan as the "equivalent of a major non-NATO ally for the purpose of sales of defense items or services." Such a change could substantially ease the process for obtaining an export license for defense items, speeding arms sales procedures.
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