A bill described by its sponsors as “the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy toward Taiwan since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979,” was expected to receive bipartisan support at a committee hearing yesterday, one of its initiators said on Tuesday.
“I think we will have a strong bipartisan vote tomorrow that we’re working on,” US Senator Bob Menendez said a day before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Menendez chairs, was to mark up the draft Taiwan policy act (TPA).
The legislation includes clauses calling for an “enhanced defense partnership” between Taiwan and the US, under which Washington would provide Taipei with US$4.5 billion in foreign military financing.
Photo: Reuters
It also comes with symbolic gestures, including the renaming of Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the “Taiwan Representative Office.”
Another provision would designate Taiwan as a “major non-NATO ally” for the purposes of expediting arms sales. The status is currently afforded to Australia, Israel, Japan, South Korea and others.
The bill has raised concerns in the White House.
Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Bloomberg last week that he would meet with congressional leaders to discuss the TPA, initiated by Menendez and US Senator Lindsey Graham.
“There are elements of that legislation, with respect to how we can strengthen our security assistance for Taiwan, that are quite effective and robust; that will improve Taiwan’s security,” Sullivan told Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein on Wednesday last week. “There are other elements that give us some concern.”
Bloomberg reported that Sullivan declined to go into detail, but it said that the US government was trying to strike a balance between supporting Taiwan while tamping down growing bipartisan hawkishness on Capitol Hill against China.
Photo: AFP
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) yesterday said that China resolutely opposes the TPA, which “seriously violates” basic principles of international relations, the “one China” principle, and the Three Joint Communiques between the US and China.
Asked about yesterday’s committee session, Menendez told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that he and other senators did have “various conversations with the administration” over the proposed bill.
“We think we are landing in a good spot that can meet some of their concerns and at the same time have a very strong bill, and expresses the Senate’s intent of strengthening our relationship with Taiwan, of assisting Taiwan in its abilities to preserve its territorial integrity,” he said.
He said that the bill would not change the US’ policy toward Taiwan, but it would give “greater clarity about our willingness to help Taiwan.”
Asked if there were to be changes to the wording of the bill in the committee session, the senator said there would be “some edits to it, there will be some changes” as there normally are in any legislative process.
The support for Taiwan is important, Menendez said, citing the example of Lithuania, which has faced Chinese economic sanctions for months after allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius last year.
“This is a test for the West. If we cannot help a country like Lithuania meet the challenge of China for deciding its own sovereign decisions, then we will lose this battle,” he said.
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
RSS