The US Congress included for the first time a section on senior military exchanges with Taiwan as it passed its National Defense Authorization Act for the next fiscal year.
The Senate on Thursday voted 92-7 to pass the bill after it was voted through the House of Representatives 375-34 on Friday last week.
Section 1284 of the final version, which passed after coordination between the House and the Senate, states: “It is the sense of 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.”
Such a program should be conducted at least once each calendar year in both Taiwan and the US, the act says.
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 said the term “senior military officer” means a general or flag officer on active duty in the armed forces, while “senior defense official,” with respect to the US Department of Defense, means a civilian official at the level of assistant secretary of defense or above.
The bill is to be turned over to US President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it into law before he leaves office on Jan. 20, while it is up to US president-elect Donald Trump and his defense officials to decide how it is to be implemented.
Although the Congress has tried to include similar provisions in its budget bills over the past few years, they were dropped from final versions after the executive branch stepped in out of concern that the move would damage US-China relations.
Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) appreciates and looks forward to improved and increased exchanges and cooperation with the US, and expresses her gratitude to the support of the US Congress and Taiwan’s long-term friends at all levels.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS