The US should create an interagency committee under the president to develop options and plans for sanctioning China in the event that Beijing takes hostile action against Taiwan, a US congressional advisory panel said on Tuesday.
The conclusion was one of 10 recommendations made by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission in an annual report to the US Congress.
Congress should “enact legislation creating a permanent interagency committee in the executive branch” charged with developing plans for sanctions or other economic measures in the event of “a Chinese attack, blockade or other hostile action against Taiwan,” the report said.
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The committee would also evaluate the economic and political consequences of the plans and coordinate between agencies to implement them, it said.
It also said that Congress should instruct the Pentagon to draft a report on how the US can bolster its “capacity to resist force” in the event of a Chinese attack and an attempted invasion of Taiwan.
Congress should also make available “significant additional multiyear defense funds” for a planning group of Taiwan and US defense officials to identify “interoperable and complementary capabilities” needed for Taiwan’s defense, and urge Taipei to commit funds to procure its share of those capabilities, it said.
The commission also reviewed developments in Taiwan over the past year in one of the report’s five main chapters.
Discussing the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the panel said that China’s main takeaways were likely to be on the importance of managing information, mitigating the impact of potential sanctions and learning from the performance of Russia’s military.
Based on Ukraine’s experience in defending against Russia, Taiwanese leaders might conclude that they must adopt an asymmetric warfare strategy, involve civilians in resistance efforts and build stockpiles of critical materials, the report said.
While Taiwan’s economy showed resilience this year, its vulnerability to Beijing’s coercion has come into greater focus, as the threat of “a Chinese blockade looms over the island’s reliance on imported energy and food,” it said.
The 785-page report also included chapters on Chinese Communist Party decisionmaking, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) centralization of authority, US-China economic and trade relations, US-China security and foreign affairs, and Hong Kong.
The commission is an independent government agency comprised of 12 commissioners who are appointed to two-year terms by the majority and minority leaders of the US Senate, and by the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
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