US senators on Friday last week proposed a bill — the US-Taiwan partnership in the Americas act — supporting Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Latin America and the Caribbean to counter China’s pressure on them to sever ties with Taiwan.
The bill was introduced by US senators Jeff Merkley and Tim Kaine of the Democratic Party and US senators John Curtis and Pete Ricketts of the Republican Party.
“To support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that maintain official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, to counter efforts by the People’s Republic of China to coerce or pressure governments into breaking such ties,” the bill’s text explicitly states as its main purpose.
Photo: CNA
The bill also aims to “deepen coordination with Taiwan on diplomatic, development, and economic engagement in the Western Hemisphere,” it states.
The bill was introduced as Taiwan faces increasing military and diplomatic aggression from China, which pressures Taiwan’s allies in the region to cut diplomatic ties, the senators said in a statement.
Taiwan has seven remaining allies in the region — Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The bill says China has pressured them to “sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan by leveraging opaque development deals and backroom pressure.”
The act would also require the US secretary of state to establish a mechanism to monitor and respond to China-backed infrastructure and development projects in those nations, the bill says.
The mechanism should identify projects that carry strategic risks or involve nontransparent financing, coordinate appropriate US diplomatic or technical responsess, and share relevant information with the US Congress and with US allies, it adds.
The bill states that the US secretary of state would be required to submit semiannual status reports to the US Congress regarding Latin American governments that have taken steps to discontinue diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and also submit a detailed plan to support the maintenance of relations with Taiwan no later than 30 days after the secretary of state determines a country is planning to.
“China’s campaign to bully countries into abandoning Taiwan is part of its broader effort to reshape the global order through coercion and backroom deals,” the statement quoted Merkley as saying.
“This bipartisan bill pushes back by supporting governments that choose to maintain ties with Taiwan and makes clear that every nation should be free to choose its partners without fear of retribution from Beijing,” he said.
It cited Curtis as saying that the bill ensures the US is not only tracking China’s coercive tactics, but “actively responding with transparency, accountability, and strategic coordination.”
“It sends a clear message: We stand with our allies, and we will not allow authoritarian pressure to dictate the choices of sovereign nations,” he said.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better