A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Monday reintroduced the Taiwan International Solidarity Act in the House of Representatives after the pro-Taiwan legislation stalled in the Senate in 2023.
The act “encourages the US to work with allies and partners to oppose the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to undermine Taiwan’s diplomatic relationships and partnerships globally,” said a press release from the office of US Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who introduced the bill.
The legislation “clarifies” that UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 — which Beijing has cited as a legal basis for its territorial claim over Taiwan — “does not preclude the United States from using its vote, voice and influence to resist the reckless campaign against Taiwan’s place on the world stage,” the press release said.
Photo: AFP
Connolly said the bill is built on the 2019 Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act to counter China’s “weaponization” of international organizations, and “stand in solidarity with the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan.”
The draft bill would require the US government “to use the voice, vote and influence of the United States” to “advocate ... to resist the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to distort the decisions, language, policies or procedures of [international] organizations regarding Taiwan.”
“Taiwan has a track record of success in democracy and global health security, and its perspective deserves to be heard,” said US Representative Young Kim, a Republican who cosponsored the bill.
Kim, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, said the act helps demonstrate “through meaningful action” US support for Taiwan’s status in international organizations.
“Taiwan’s participation in global conversation is the world’s gain,” Kim was quoted as saying.
The bill is cosponsored by Democrats Ami Bera, Dina Titus, Steve Cohen, Thomas Suozzi, Dave Min, Josh Gottheimer and Brad Sherman, and Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Michael Lawler, the press release said.
According to US legislative procedures, the bill will next enter the committee review stage and must pass the House and Senate before it can be signed into law by the president.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS