Four US senators have introduced bipartisan legislation that would require the US Department of the Treasury to terminate the US-China Tax Treaty within 30 days after a presidential determination that China has initiated an armed attack against Taiwan.
The senators are Republicans John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy, and Democrats Chris Coons and Catherine Cortez Masto.
“The United States must make it crystal clear the Chinese Communist Party will face dire consequences if it moves to invade Taiwan,” Cornyn said on Tuesday.
Photo: Screengrab from YouTube
“The security of our partners in the Indo-Pacific is critical to American trade objectives, regional stability and fostering democracy around the world,” Coons said. “That’s why I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation to signal that potential aggression from the Chinese against Taiwan would be seriously detrimental to our economic relationship and incur immediate, severe consequences.”
Penalizing China for attacking US allies is “common sense,” Cassidy said.
“This legislation will help deter aggression in the region by making it clear that the US will not give favorable tax treatment to countries that make war on their neighbors,” Cortez said.
According to Article 28 of the US-China Tax Treaty, either side can terminate the treaty provided they inform the other of the decision six months in advance.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China