The draft Taiwan policy act (TPA) seeks to “strengthen Taiwan’s defense and deter the aggression of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” US Representative Michael McCaul said on Wednesday as he introduced the US House of Representatives’ version of the bill.
McCaul, the most senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the China Task Force, said in a news release that the bill is meant to establish “a comprehensive set of tools to increase Taiwan’s military capabilities to deter and defeat a CCP attack.”
“Taiwan is a critical national security partner for the United States whose democracy is under an unprecedented level of threat from the CCP,” McCaul said.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Now is the time to arm our ally — before an invasion occurs, not after,” he said. “I’m proud to introduce this important legislation with 36 colleagues to help improve Taiwan’s defense immediately. Deterrence is key to stopping the CCP from provoking a conflict that would seriously harm US national security.”
The House version was introduced after a bill bearing the same name was approved by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 14, after some modifications.
Some of the bill’s original proposals — including renaming Taiwan’s de facto US embassy, requiring Senate approval for Washington’s envoy to Taipei and designating Taiwan a “major non-NATO ally” — were either removed or made nonbinding in the wake of misgivings from the White House.
Despite this, the updated bill still includes provisions authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in financing from next year to 2027 for Taiwan to purchase US arms.
The House version keeps the Senate’s original proposal to rename the de facto embassy as the “Taiwan Representative Office” and elevates the top US diplomat in Taiwan with Senate confirmation.
It also includes clauses authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in US foreign military financing over five fiscal years to Taiwan and expressing support for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.
The Senate version was introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez — chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.
It cleared the committee in a 17 to 5 bipartisan vote after some changes, which Menendez said were “minor” compared with provisions on defense assistance, which he described as “the core of the bill” alongside clauses relating to international forums and economic engagement.
To become law, the bill needs to pass the Senate and the House, and receive approval from US President Joe Biden before the conclusion of the 117th US Congress on Jan. 3 next year.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday said the proposed bill was “another friendly action by the House of Representatives to support deepening Taiwan-US relations after the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee approved the Senate version of the same bill on Sept. 14.”
“In the face of China’s military expansion and provocative actions toward Taiwan, the government will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and firmly stand against authoritarian aggression,” she said. “We will also further deepen our close security partnership with the United States, with whom we will jointly maintain peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.”
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS