The US Congress on Thursday unveiled an annual defense budget bill containing stipulations for establishing a comprehensive training, advising and institutionalized capacity-building program for Taiwan.
The US House and Senate armed services committees proposed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 2024 fiscal year via a reconciliation process.
The draft act is to be deliberated by the two chambers of the US Congress and then handed to US President Joe Biden for approval if passed by lawmakers.
Photo: AFP
The bill stipulates that the comprehensive training, advising and capacity-building program should be established by the US Secretary of Defense with the approval of the Secretary of State in consultation with Taiwanese officials.
The program’s aims include enabling a layered defense by Taiwanese armed forces in support of an asymmetric warfare strategy, encouraging information sharing and improving interoperability between the militaries of Taiwan and the US.
These goals additionally include improving Taiwan’s joint warfare capabilities, and enhancing the nation’s professional military education and civilian control of its military, the draft states.
The act urges the US Department of Defense to train Taiwanese armed forces to make use of transferred defense articles and services, reform and integrate their reserve forces and integrate military forces and civilian capabilities.
Furthermore, the US should facilitate the development of cyberwarfare defense capabilities and practices by Taiwan, and the nation’s participation in bilateral and multilateral military exercises, it says.
The secretary of defense is directed to provide congressional committees with a report on the Taiwanese military’s absorption of capabilities furnished by the US over the past decade, it said, adding that this report is to be made within 90 days of the NDAA’s enactment.
Top US defense and intelligence officials are required to make a report within 180 days of the NDAA’s enactment to the House and Senate’s select intelligence committees on the risks and implications of a sustained military blockade of Taiwan by China, it states.
This report should address the means China could use to realize such a blockade, identify the indicators and warnings of a military blockade and put forward a time line, it says.
The report should additionally address the coercive means China might use in conjunction with a blockade, including the takeover of Taiwan’s outlying islands, the negative impact of the blockade on Taiwan and the US and military challenges posed by it, the draft says.
The report should furnish an assessment of the US armed forces’ capabilities for countering a military blockade of Taiwan, identify areas for improvement and potential use of allies and partners in such an event, it says.
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