A bill that seeks to encourage visits between Taiwan and the US at all levels was on Thursday passed by a US House of Representatives subcommittee in the first step toward its legislation.
The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific unanimously passed the Taiwan travel act bill, which was initiated by US Representative Steve Chabot, and cosponsored by US representatives Brad Sherman and Ed Royce, chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“The United States government should encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels,” the bill states.
Photo: AP
It says that since the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in 1979, ties between Taiwan and the US have suffered from insufficient high-level communication due to the self-imposed restrictions that the US maintains on visits by high-ranking officials.
The bill, which seeks to eliminate the restrictions, is to be sent to the US House Committe on Foreign Affairs for approval.
A similar bill with the same title was also introduced to the US Senate. It was initiated by Republican senators Marco Rubio, Jim Inhofe and Cory Gardner; and Democratic senators Sherrod Brown, Bob Menendez and Gary Peters.
Before the bill can become law, it must be passed by both the House and Senate, then signed by US President Donald Trump.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed her appreciation to US officials, including US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, for their support of Taiwan.
“Over past few days, we’ve seen US officials, including SecState Tillerson, speak in support of #TaiwanRelationsAct & Taiwan-US relations,” Tsai tweeted.
Tillerson told a US House committee hearing that while the US remains committed to its “one China” policy, it fully intends to fulfill all commitments to Taiwan under the TRA.
The TRA is a US law under which the US is committed to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons.
Tsai also expressed appreciation for the subcommittee’s unanimous passage of the bill.
“Taiwan appreciates continued support of friends in US, Japan & others, & will continue to work together for peace & stability in region,” Tsai tweeted.
The US allows authoritarian Chinese leaders to visit Washington at any time and gives them a red-carpet welcome, but has shunned democratically elected leaders from its long-term friend Taiwan, Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) president Peter Chen (陳正義) said in a news release.
Only Washington, not Beijing, has the right to decide who can visit the US, Chen said.
With relatively new governments in office in Taiwan and the US, it is an opportune time to change the rules on visits by Taiwanese officials, he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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