A US Senate committee on Wednesday approved the Taiwan policy act of 2022, which would significantly enhance US military support for Taiwan, including provisions for billions of dollars in additional security assistance, as China increases military pressure on the nation.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee backed the bill 17 to 5.
Some of the bill’s original proposals — including renaming the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington, requiring senate approval for Washington’s envoy to Taipei and designating the country a “major non-NATO ally” — were either removed or made nonbinding in the wake of misgivings from the White House.
Photo: AFP
The updated bill still includes provisions authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in grants from next year to 2027 for Taipei to purchase US arms.
Sponsors said the bill would be the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy toward Taiwan since the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 — the bedrock of US engagement with Taiwan since Washington opened up relations with Beijing that year.
US lawmakers moved ahead on the act amid heightened worries for Taiwan after Russia invaded Ukraine, and following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which prompted China to stage major military exercises seen as a trial run for an invasion.
US Senator Bob Menendez, who leads the committee and is a member of US President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, said that the US “does not seek war or heightened tensions with Beijing,” but needs to be “clear-eyed.”
“We are carefully and strategically lowering the existential threats facing Taiwan by raising the cost of taking the island by force so that it becomes too high a risk and unachievable,” Menendez said.
US Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the committee, said it is “imperative we take action now to bolster Taiwan’s self-defense before it’s too late.”
Asked about modifications in the revised bill, Menendez said the changes were “minor” compared to provisions on defense assistance, which the senator described as “the core of the bill” alongside clauses relating to international forums and economic engagement.
Although stopping short of designating Taiwan as a “major non-NATO ally” — which would have provided it the same status as Australia, Israel, Japan and South Korea with regards to expediting arms sales — the revised bill states that the country “shall be treated as though it were designated a major non-NATO ally for the purposes of the transfer or possible transfer of defense.”
The committee’s approval paved the way for a vote in the full US Senate, but there has been no word on when that might take place. To become law, it must also pass the US House of Representatives and be signed by the president, or win enough support to override a veto.
The Taiwan bill is likely to be folded into a larger piece of legislation expected to pass late this year, such as the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual bill setting policy for the US Department of Defense.
China said yesterday that the bill “sent serious wrong signals to Taiwan independence and separatist forces.”
If the bill continues to move forward, “it will greatly shake the political foundation of China-US relations, and will have extremely serious consequences for ... peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said at a briefing in Beijing.
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