The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a piece of legislation that would require the US Department of State to regularly review the guidelines for exchanges with Taiwan.
The Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, introduced on Feb. 24 by US Representative Ann Wagner, was approved that day in an overwhelming 404-7 vote.
The bill, which amends the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020, requires that the department periodically conduct reviews of its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and submit a report to the US Congress at least once every two years to strengthen the governing body’s supervision of US-Taiwan relations.
Photo: REUTERS
It also asks that the US secretary of state identify opportunities to lift any remaining self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement and articulate a plan to do so.
The bill was introduced to “reinforce congressional oversight on US-Taiwan relations and ensure that changes in US policies toward Taiwan are aimed at deepening and enhancing this important relationship,” said Wagner, who is also vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
For decades, most senior US executive branch officials, including high-ranking military officers, were banned from visiting Taiwan to appease China, while Taiwan’s top leadership could not travel to the US, she said in a statement issued by her office on Wednesday.
Meetings and correspondence between US and Taiwanese officials had to meet a long list of complicated and arbitrary requirements, such as holding meetings at hotels rather than in official federal buildings or asking Taiwanese officials not to wear any official uniforms or insignia, Wagner said.
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared those guidelines null and void in January 2021, but many of the restrictions have since been put back in place by US President Joe Biden’s administration, she said.
Biden’s bureaucratic red tape harms that stance, undermining the US’ ability to coordinate more closely with Taiwan, she said.
With House approval, the act would also need to be passed by the US Senate before it can be handed to Biden to sign into law.
Separately, a senior US official yesterday said that the US does not see an imminent threat of China invading Taiwan, but it is ready to defend it.
“I don’t certainly see any imminent threat. Hopefully that is something that would never materialize,” US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said on the sidelines of a defense technology conference in Singapore.
“Anyone who contemplates an act of aggression that would involve the United States is making a very serious mistake,” he said.
China has done “a number of things that are fairly aggressive,” including militarizing the South China Sea, Kendall said.
He also called the presence of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in US airspace last month an “act of aggression,” but said it was “not a serious military threat” and unlikely to happen again.
Beijing denied the balloon was a government spy craft.
Kendall called on the two countries to work together, saying “we should be working to increase our cooperation, not decreasing [it].”
Additional reporting by Reuters
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS