The US House of Representatives has given overwhelming approval to a bill intended to make it easier and more cost-effective for Taiwan to buy eight diesel-electric submarines from the US by dividing the design and construction phases and giving Taipei more options in the purchase.
The bill also contains provisions to enhance military ties between the US and Taiwan, and to penalize foreign firms that sell arms to China that could be used to attack Taiwan and engage US forces coming to Taiwan's aid.
The provisions are part of legislation that would authorize Pentagon spending and programs for fiscal 2007, which begins on Oct. 1.
The House approved the bill, 396 to 31, on Thursday after two days of lengthy debate.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where the future of these provisions are uncertain.
The Senate traditionally eliminates such narrowly-focused provisions in its authorization bills, and last year it rejected provisions identical to those in the current bill regarding US-Taiwan military relations and arms sales to China.
The diesel submarine provision is a new one this year, and supporters are hopeful that it will survive. The Senate is expected to take up its version of the bill later this month.
The submarine provision would reaffirm that the US policy is to sell the subs to Taiwan and requires the Pentagon to make available information to Taiwan on various options to help the country make good decisions on the purchase. It also calls on the Legislative Yuan to "make every effort to support the president of Taiwan" by approving funding for the purchases.
The amendment was sponsored by Republican Representative Rob Simmons from Connecticut, whose election district is the home of the Electric Boat division of the giant defense contractor, General Dynamics. Electric Boat, the main supplier of submarines to the US Navy, based in Groton, Connecticut, and would likely be where Taiwan's subs would be built.
Simmons, who was a CIA officer in Taiwan in the 1970s and whose biography says he is fluent in Mandarin, outlined his plan for the subs purchase in a speech in Taiwan in February.
His idea would separate the relatively low-cost design portion of the work from the expensive construction portion, to give Taiwan a chance to reassess the project after the design is completed.
But sources say many US Navy officers oppose the sale, and some reports say support for the plan is waning in Washington, amid fears that successful construction of the subs would sap support for the US' all-nuclear sub fleet, which is far more expensive than the diesel option.
However, supporters of the Simmons' plan in Congress dispute those reports and say official US Navy opinion is still positive.
Simmons also disputes the US$12 billion price tag that the Bush administration has put on the subs, saying Electric Boat estimates it can build them for US$8 billion, assuming no cost overruns.
The defense appropriation bill would also mandate an exchange program between senior US and Taiwanese military officers and officials to improve Taiwan's defenses against any Chinese attack. It would also require that visits to Taiwan be included in a National Defense University program of field study for promising officers.
It would also penalize foreign firms that sell China arms or technology that "could be used to threaten the US or undermine the security of Taiwan or the stability of the West Pacific region."
Any firm violating the provision would be barred from selling to the US military or participating in joint weapons development for at least five years.
That provision, originally introduced last year, was specifically aimed at European nations at a time when the EU was considering lifting its embargo on arms sales to China, but includes all foreign firms.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
RSS