Two US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill to the US Congress to track and expedite the delivery of US arms sold to Taiwan amid growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
The arms exports delivery solutions act was introduced by Republican US representatives Young Kim and Michael McCaul, who are both on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
The bill seeks to ensure that “defense equipment already purchased from the US by Taiwan and other allies in the [Indo-Pacific] region are tracked and delivered as efficiently as possible as the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] eyes further aggression,” Kim said in a statement.
Photo: AP
“Delayed deliveries of congressionally approved sales to Taiwan are undermining our ability to deter an attack from China,” McCaul said. “This is incredibly concerning as China ramps up its belligerence towards Taiwan.”
China says it wants to unify with Taiwan through peaceful means, although it has not denounced the use of force to achieve that goal. It has stepped up economic, political and military pressure on Taipei over the past few years, as the Democratic Progressive Party government refuses to accept the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Beijing has also accused Taipei and Washington of trying to alter the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait. It has repeatedly sent military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, drawing condemnations from Taipei and Washington.
As a result, some US lawmakers have spoken out in favor of prioritizing weapons sales and deliveries to Taiwan.
The bill would require US President Joe Biden’s administration to submit a report to Congress before March 1 next year listing the approved sales of US defense articles or services worth US$25 million or more to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand that have not been fully delivered.
The report should provide reasons for any changes or delays on the part of the US in its transfer of the approved defense items while outlining possible measures the US can take with the Congress’ authorization to provide “interim capabilities or solutions” to its partners subject to such delays.
The report should also provide a description of “the actions the United States is taking to expedite deliveries of defense articles and services to Taiwan,” the bill says.
Prioritizing the defense needs of Washington’s allies and partners is “a national security priority,” and the US’ sustained support for the defense of its key partners benefits Americans and international trade, it says.
The “1992 consensus” — a term that former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
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
RSS