The US Senate last week passed the PORCUPINE Act to speed up US defense sales and facilitate the transfer of military equipment from US allies to Taiwan.
The act, which amends the Arms Export Control Act and is formally called the Providing Our Regional Companions Upgraded Protection in Nefarious Environments Act, cleared the Senate by unanimous consent on Thursday last week.
It next moves to the US House of Representatives for consideration. If passed by the House, it would be sent to the president for promulgation.
Photo: AFP
Under the legislation, the Arms Export Control Act would include Taiwan among those eligible for shorter certification and congressional notification periods for arms sales, while also expediting licensing procedures for allies seeking to transfer military equipment to Taiwan.
Taiwan would receive treatment comparable to that of NATO members, as well as Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — collectively referred to as “NATO Plus.”
The act also requires the US secretary of state to determine within 90 days of the bill’s final passage if an expedited decisionmaking process should be created to govern third party transfers of weapons to Taiwan.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Washington-based non-governmental Taiwan advocacy group, welcomed the Senate’s passage of the bill.
The group said in a statement on Sunday that the bill “removes critical bureaucratic hurdles to arming Taiwan, ensuring Taiwan maintains the capabilities necessary to deter invasion” by China.
The bill would also create a mechanism to facilitate third-party transfers of US-made defense equipment from NATO and NATO Plus countries, thereby expanding the coalition able to support Taiwan, it said.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
RSS