The Pacific Partnership Act, unanimously passed by the US House of Representatives on Monday, aims to bolster cooperation with Taiwan and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), its backers said.
Introduced by US Representative Ed Case early this year, the bill emphasizes the importance of US collaboration with key allies and partners, including Taiwan, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, as well as regional organizations such as the PIF.
Unlike other bills introduced recently, such as the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, the Pacific Partnership Act does not explicitly target China.
Photo: AFP
Instead, it requires the US president and the US secretary of state to develop a Pacific partnership strategy, focusing on the region’s vulnerabilities to threats such as natural disasters, foreign military actions, economic coercion and corruption.
The PIF, which is mentioned multiple times in the Pacific act, has become a diplomatic flashpoint between Taiwan and China. The south Pacific has long been a contested area of influence for both nations, with the PIF as a critical platform.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) last month attended the forum, as did Chinese Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs Qian Bo (錢波).
The Solomon Islands sought to block Taiwan’s participation in future forums, reports said.
A draft communique reaffirming Taiwan’s status was reportedly removed due to pressure from China.
During discussions on the Pacific Partnership Act, US Representative Amata Coleman Radewagen said that China’s influence was growing in the region, pointing to its 2022 security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
The bill calls for coordinated US efforts with allies to ensure effective aid programs in the Pacific without duplication, Radewagen said.
Although the bill has cleared the House, it faces a narrow window for approval by the US Senate, given US presidential elections in November and a congressional recess.
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
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
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,
RSS