The US Congress has ordered the George W. Bush administration to conduct a study into expanding US-Taiwan military ties, possibly including combined operational training exercises and the exchange of senior officers between the two militaries.
The lawmakers gave Bush until next spring to complete the study and report to Congress.
The measure was part of a US$393 billion bill authorizing US military programs for next year, which was approved without dissent by the House on Tuesday and by the Senate on Wednesday.
The Taiwan provision was the result of hard bargaining between House and Senate negotiators at a conference committee formed to work out differences between the House version of the bill, which contained a tough pro-Taiwan provision, and the Senate version, which contained none.
The House version was rejected by the negotiators after the Bush administration came out firmly against it. Previous administrations have also resisted congressional attempts to force closer US-Taiwan military relations.
Taiwan supporters in Washington, while disappointed that the House version was not adopted, were nevertheless cheered by the compromise language, which raised the likelihood that the issue of military-to-military relations will be raised again by next summer.
Opposition to the House version from both the administration and most senators doomed the House's tougher language, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Wednesday.
"There was strong objection to it on the part of the administration, and most of the senators objected to it as well," Levin told the Taipei Times.
"So, given the combination of the administration's opposition plus the opposition by the majority of the senators in the conference, we simply prevailed on the House to drop that provision."
As for Congress' response to the administration's report, Levin said, "What will happen next year after that review is unpredictable."
Once the bill becomes law, the president has 180 days to submit a report to Congress on the possibility of "conducting combined operational training" with Taiwan and exchanging officers. The report will also detail "the progress being made in meeting United States commitments to the security of Taiwan."
The report will be issued in both classified and unclassified forms, so that its findings and conclusions can be made public.
The rejected House version had directed the president to prepare and implement a "comprehensive plan" for such joint training and officer exchanges.
Bush rejected that idea, however, while the conference negotiations were underway.
On Sept. 27, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz wrote to Levin strongly opposing the Taiwan provision in the House bill.
"We believe that the objectives of [the Taiwan provision] are best achieved by preserving the traditional statutory role of the [defense] secretary to exercise authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense to conduct such activities as are needed to support those commitments," Wolfowitz wrote.
Sources at the time said that while the Pentagon, mainly Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his key advisors, favored the enhancement of military relations between Taiwan and Washington, the White House, led by the National Security Council, opposed the provision, perhaps for fear of alienating Beijing.
Wolfowitz's letter was sent a month before Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) was slated to visit Bush at his Texas ranch.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS