The US Senate is next week to debate a US$574.5 billion defense spending bill that calls for improved military relations with Taiwan.
US Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain is in Taipei this week and is expected to support the provisions on Taiwan.
If the provisions pass and the bill is ratified, it would constitute the most significant congressional upgrade to US-Taiwan relations since the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center Rick Fisher told the Taipei Times.
The bill calls on the Pentagon to improve military relations with Taiwan by starting a program that would exchange senior military officers and officials on a regular basis.
According to the bill — if passed by the committee — the exchange officers and officials would focus on threat analysis, military doctrine, force planning, logistical support and intelligence collection and analysis.
The exchanges would be conducted in Taiwan and the US, and would involve active duty flag officers and assistant secretaries of defense.
In addition, the bill contains a “sense of the Senate” provision that said Taiwan should be invited to participate in advanced aerial combat training and other bilateral military training in the US to “increase credible deterrent capabilities.”
The provision also calls on Taiwan to “strive to invest at least 3 percent of its annual GDP on defense.”
Another provision in the bill said: “It is the sense of the Senate that the US should strengthen and enhance its long-standing partnership and strategic cooperation with Taiwan.”
The provision said the US should reinforce its commitment to the TRA and the “six assurances,” “as both countries work toward mutual security objectives by conducting regular transfers of defense articles and defense services necessary to enable Taiwan to secure common interests and objectives with the US.”
The US Senate supports Taiwan’s efforts to integrate innovative and asymmetric capabilities to balance the growing military capabilities of the People’s Republic of China, including fast-attack craft, coastal defense cruise missiles, rapid runway repair training and undersea warfare capabilities “optimized for the defense of the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
The provision said that it is also the sense of the US Senate that Taiwan should be assisted in building an effective air defense capability consisting of a balance of fighters and mobile air defense systems and permitting Taiwan to participate in bilateral training activities.
“These are very necessary enhancements to our military relationship with Taiwan that should have happened many years ago,” Fisher said.
He said that by the early 2020s China could have an initial capability to actually invade Taiwan.
“As Taiwanese are every year less inclined to vote to unify with China, there is a real danger that a systemic crisis for the Chinese Communist Party could prompt its leadership to risk a costly war over Taiwan to justify its continued dictatorship,” Fisher said.
“Strengthening the military-to-military relationship with Taiwan and increasing Taiwan’s exposure to advanced military tactics and training will go far to increase Taipei’s ability to deter a Chinese attack,” he added.
The US House of Representatives’ version of the bill does not contain the same provisions on Taiwan and thus even if the US Senate votes in favor of the bill, it must still be negotiated with the US House in the Conference Committee before going to the White House for US President Barack Obama’s signature.
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