The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday approved a draft bill designed to enhance Taiwan’s military capabilities and diplomatic ties with the US.
The Providing Our Regional Companions Upgraded Protections in Nefarious Environments Act, or PORCUPINE Act, would streamline the process of arms sales to Taiwan by designating the nation as a “NATO plus” partner.
In addition to the PORCUPINE Act, the committee approved by voice vote 17 bills, including the Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act, the US-Taiwan Partnership in the Americas Act and the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, US Senator Chris Coons said, calling Wednesday the most productive day the committee has had in years.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The legislation would shorten the congressional notification period for arms sales to Taiwan to a length comparable to members of NATO and other key US allies such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and Israel.
The bills would either head to informal negotiations between the leadership of congressional Democrats and Republicans or be attached to another piece of legislation to expedite their passage into law, Coons said.
In April, Coons, a Democrat, and US Senator Pete Ricketts, a Republican, cosponsored the PORCUPINE Act, following a visit to Taiwan with a bipartisan delegation.
Lieutenant General Huang Wen-chi (黃文?), who heads the Department of Strategic Planning at the Ministry of National Defense, yesterday told a legislative meeting that the act would mainly affect the nation’s procurement of innovative defense technology.
Decreasing the congressional notification period from 30 days to 15 days would not significantly accelerate the acquisition of conventional systems, which are most often delayed by contract negotiations and production logjams, he said.
The act’s benefits would be more evident in the procurement of systems used in asymmetric warfare that are shelf-ready and fast to produce, such as Altius-600M attack drones, Huang added.
The bill signifies that the US believes peace in the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific region is core to Washington’s national interests, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
When asked to clarify the scope of proposed Taiwan-US joint collaboration in defense technology, Koo said that the US is keen to decouple supply chains for drones and other key capabilities from China.
The Defense Innovation Office in February established communication channels with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to hasten the introduction of commercial technology for military applications in the Taiwanese armed forces, he said.
The military has already utilized the mechanism to buy prototypes of systems for field tests that could expedite the procurement cycle of promising arms, Koo said.
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