The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is on Wednesday to deliberate on the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022.
The deliberations were originally scheduled to take place on July 9, but were postponed to Sept. 3 after some Republican senators requested more time to study the bill. It was further postponed as the US Senate first handled Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership applications.
Robert Sutter, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, in an article published in The Diplomat on Saturday said that bipartisan majorities in both chambers of the US Congress indicate support for Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
“Supporting Taiwan as an important partner in dealing with these challenges [from China] remains a high priority,” he wrote.
China increased military exercises around Taiwan after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei early last month.
However, that did not deter further US congressional visits to Taipei or efforts by the administration of US President Joe Biden to foster closer ties with Taiwan, he wrote.
The bill calls for “more symbolic moves in the legislation,” such as renaming Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” to the “Taiwan Representative Office,” Newsweek reported on Thursday.
It also proposes changing the title “American Institute in Taiwan [AIT] director” to “AIT representative,” the appointment of which would require Senate confirmation similar to ambassadorial appointments.
The US might also designate Taiwan a “major non-NATO ally,” as it has done for Australia, Israel, Japan and South Korea, to facilitate arms sales, the magazine reported.
Although some elements of the bill might be discarded, the US is “unlikely to halt future debate” on its Taiwan policies, as China has been increasing pressure on Taiwan, Newsweek reported.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has told reporters that “some of the contents [of the bill] made us worried.”
Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, on Saturday said that the US Congress appears to be seeking “pre-emptive preparedness” with the bill.
Each Taiwan-friendly act the US passes would serve as a legal basis for its administration to formulate policies, most of which are “compliant with the baseline,” he said.
It is therefore reasonable for Sullivan to worry about the bill, as some of its provisions might exceed the baseline established in the past, he added.
The US executive branch might be concerned that the bill would prompt China to take an even stronger stance against Taiwan in the “overall strategy for resolving the Taiwan dilemma in the new era,” which China plans to propose during the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party next month, he said.
However, it is because of Beijing’s tough measures that the US Congress proposed the bill, which seeks to bolster US strategies according to changes in the relationship between the US, Taiwan and China, he said.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
RSS