Both houses of the US Congress have made progress on their respective drafts of an annual defense policy bill — the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — that includes provisions to strengthen defense-related engagement with Taiwan.
In the US Senate, the Armed Services Committee on Thursday said that it had passed a draft version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2023 in a bipartisan 23-3 vote and had sent it to the full Senate for consideration.
A summary released by the committee said that the draft bill would require engagement with Taiwanese officials to develop and implement a multi-year plan for the acquisition of appropriate defensive capabilities.
Photo: Reuters
The bill would also mandate engagement with Taiwan on a series of combined training, exercises and planning activities, the committee said.
The US’ policy would be to maintain its armed forces “to deny a fait accompli against Taiwan,” to deter China from using military force to unilaterally change the “status quo” with Taiwan, the committee said in the summary.
The draft Senate bill calls for US$857.6 billion of defense spending, an increase of US$44 billion over the US$813.3 billion requested by US President Joe Biden.
That is an increase of US$87 billion from last year’s defense budget.
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee on Monday released the full text of its draft version of the NDAA, which is still in the committee’s markup process and is to be reviewed today.
In its current form, the House’s draft bill largely hews to the final version of the NDAA that was signed into law last year, with the exception of an expanded “sense of Congress” section on US-Taiwan defense relations.
While last year’s version of the NDAA committed to supporting Taiwan’s acquisition of defense articles with an emphasis on asymmetric capabilities, this year’s draft specifies that this might include “anti-ship, coastal defense, anti-armor, air defense [and] undersea warfare” capabilities.
The section also contains a new phrase that says the US should be “committed to the defense of a free and open society in the face of aggressive efforts by [China] to curtail or influence the free exercise of rights or democratic franchise.”
The House draft would authorize a lower amount of US$802.4 billion of defense spending.
Typically, both houses of Congress pass their own versions of the NDAA and negotiate a reconciliation of the bill to be signed into law — a process that last year was not completed until December.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
FLOOD RECOVERY: “Post-Typhoon Danas reconstruction special act” is expected to be approved on Thursday, the premier said, adding the flood control in affected areas would be prioritized About 200cm of rainfall fell in parts of southern Taiwan from Monday last week to 9am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源) saw total rainfall of 2,205mm, while Pingtung County’s Sandimen Township (三地門) had 2,060.5mm and Tainan’s Nanhua District (南化) 1,833mm, according to CWA data. Meanwhile, Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County saw 1,688mm of accumulated rain and Yunlin County’s Caoling (草嶺) had 1,025mm. The Pingtung County Government said that 831 local residents have been pre-emptively evacuated from mountainous areas. A total of 576 are staying with relatives in low-lying areas, while the other 255 are in shelters. CWA forecaster
RSS