The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a foreign assistance spending bill with an amendment forbidding that funds be used to create, procure or display maps depicting Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China.
The amendment was introduced by five Republican representatives — Tom Tiffany, Steve Chabot, Scott Perry, Kat Cammack and Mike Gallagher — and passed unanimously in a bundle with a dozen other amendments.
“This is a common sense measure,” Tiffany said, speaking on the House floor on Wednesday. “As we all know, Taiwan has never been part of communist China. The Taiwanese people elect their own leaders, raise their own armed forces, conduct their own foreign policy and maintain their own international trade agreements.”
Photo: AFP
“By every measure, Taiwan is a sovereign, democratic and independent country,” he said. “Any claims to the contrary are simply false.”
Tiffany told his colleagues that the US should abandon its dishonest “one China” policy, which acknowledges “Beijing’s bogus argument that Taiwan is part of Communist China.”
While this amendment cannot achieve that goal, it would “at least require honest maps that stop perpetuating the ‘one China’ lie,” he added.
The full spending bill, titled “Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act 2022,” passed with a 217-212 vote. The bill next heads to the US Senate and, if approved, would be sent to US President Joe Biden to be signed into law.
In other news, a US Navy destroyer on Wednesday transited the Taiwan Strait, the seventh time a US battleship has navigated the waterway separating Taiwan and China since Biden took office on Jan. 20.
“The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Benfold conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Wednesday through international waters in accordance with international law. The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US 7th Fleet said in a statement.
“The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows,” it said.
Since January, US warships — all Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers — have made similar transits through the Strait.
The USS John S. McCain sailed through the waters on Feb. 4 and April 7; the USS Curtis Wilbur on Feb. 24, May 18 and June 22; and the USS John Finn on March 10.
Over the past few years, the US has sent warships into the region in what is seen as an attempt to counterbalance China’s growing military presence in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea and neighboring waters, and to show its continued commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the region.
In Taipei yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed the passage of the USS Benfold through the Strait.
During the ship’s passage, sailing from south to north, the military used joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools to monitor movements at sea and in the air around Taiwan, the ministry said, describing the situation as normal.
However, the US warship’s passage was met with strong criticism from China yesterday.
Shi Yi (施毅), a spokesperson for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command, described the maneuver as yet another provocative move by the US.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
RSS