US Senator Josh Hawley on Thursday introduced a draft Taiwan Defense Act, which would require the Pentagon to maintain the capability to defeat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, while continuing to fulfill its obligations under the US’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
“Yesterday, I introduced new legislation to stop #China imperialism and to defend our vital interests, and our partner #Taiwan,” the Republican senator wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
The proposed act would ensure that the US is capable of continuing to fulfill its obligations under the TRA in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive military buildup, he said in a news release posted on his official Web site.
Photo: Reuters
The bill would also require the US Department of Defense to maintain the capability to defeat a Chinese offensive — and especially a Chinese fait accompli — against Taiwan and to report regularly on its progress toward this goal, he added.
The term fait accompli refers to Beijing seizing control of Taiwan by military force before the US Armed Forces can respond and keeping the US from mounting a counterattack by making it seem prohibitively difficult or costly.
Taiwan is the linchpin of a free and open Indo-Pacific, he said in the news release.
“If the Chinese Communist Party is allowed to seize control of Taiwan, it will stand ready to dominate the region,” he said. “This would pose an unacceptable threat to the lives and livelihoods not just of our Asian allies and partners, but of working Americans here at home. We must not allow that to happen.”
In a news release yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said that a Chinese Shaanxi Y-8 military transport plane was detected yesterday morning by Republic of China Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in Taiwan’s southwest airspace, but that it left after being asked in a radio broadcast to leave.
It continues to monitor Taiwan’s surrounding waters and airspace, the ministry said, adding that everything is currently normal.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday thanked US lawmakers for taking action to support Taiwan-US military and security cooperation.
The ministry would monitor the development of Hawley’s bill, while maintaining close contact with friends in the US Congress and administration in a bid to further deepen partnerships in various areas, she said.
In related news, the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 (FY21 NDAA) in a 25-2 vote, pending review by the full senate.
The bill, with a budget of US$740.5 billion, establishes the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and reaffirms commitment to the TRA.
“The FY21 NDAA accelerates innovation, so we can compete effectively, and regain our comparative advantage over China and Russia,” an executive summary of the bill released by the committee says.
The bill supports the Pentagon’s security cooperation efforts to strengthen the capabilities of international partners, and expresses commitment to the TRA and deepened bilateral ties, the summary says.
The US Secretary of Defense would need to consider 5G and 6G security risks posed by Chinese vendors such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興) when making decisions about overseas bases, it says.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS