Two US representatives on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill to the US House of Representatives to help Taiwan develop relations with other countries amid China’s coercive actions designed to isolate the nation.
The draft “Promoting Ties with Taiwan Act,” which was introduced by US representatives Michelle Fischbach and Scott Peters, would require the US government to use its diplomatic influence and reputation to help Taiwan expand connections with nations and partners around the world.
The bill would require the US secretary of state to develop a strategy to help Taiwan foster new ties and trade connections to prevent its isolation, the representatives said.
Photo: AFP
Within 180 days after the passage of the bill, the secretary of state would be required to submit a strategy to the US Congress, including an evaluation of staffing and other resources needed to implement the new policy, the bill says.
Within one year of the submission of the strategy, the secretary of state would have to submit a report to Congress detailing actions taken to carry out the strategy, it says.
The draft has won support from 13 representatives across party lines.
“Taiwan is a valued friend and an important trading partner for the United States. I’m proud to propose concrete steps that our government can take towards encouraging similar relationships between Taiwan and other countries around the world,” Fischbach said.
“Peace in the Taiwan Strait is an enduring security interest for the United States, Taiwan, allies and partners committed to a rules-based international order that promotes the prosperity and interests of all,” Peters said.
Taiwan — which has formal diplomatic ties with 15 nations, and economic and cultural missions in more than 50 nations — is increasingly isolated, as Beijing has succeeded in the past few years in pressuring several countries into switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the representatives said.
Should Taiwan become isolated and weakened, it would be easy prey for a Chinese invasion, they added.
Lithuania in July announced that it would open a Taiwanese Representative Office in its capital and has since faced intensifying pressure from Beijing, including threats of economic sanctions, they added.
They hoped the bill would build on the foundation of the US’ Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, which was passed by Congress in 2019 and also aims to support Taiwan’s international presence, they said.
The new bill is being reviewed by the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and needs to be approved by the committee and Congress before it can be signed into law by the US president.
In related developments, the Chinese embassy in Lithuania has temporarily suspended consular services until further notice for “technical reasons,” the embassy on Thursday said in a statement on its Web site.
The statement was taken down shortly after publication.
It was published at 1:30pm GMT, a timestamp on the Web site showed, but had disappeared as of 2pm GMT.
The suspension came after Beijing on Sunday downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic state, expressing strong dissatisfaction at the opening of the de facto Lithuanian embassy in Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Reuters
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying