Proposed legislation in the US outlines three conditions in which Washington would be authorized to protect Taiwan were China to invade, a report said yesterday.
US Representative Ted Yoho this month said he would introduce a Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act, which would authorize US military force if China were to invade Taiwan-controlled areas, including its outlying islands.
According to a version of the bill obtained by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times), the bill lists three conditions in which a US president would be authorized to use military force to protect Taiwan: If China uses military force against Taiwan; if China intends to seize Taiwan-controlled areas, including Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties; and if the lives of Taiwanese, including military personnel, are threatened, the Liberty Times reported.
In an interview with Fox Business Network on July 17, Yoho said that the US is not doing enough to support Taiwan due to “its strategic ambiguity about our policy between Taiwan and China.”
Yoho is a ranking member of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
The bill would have a five-year sunset clause, Yoho said.
While Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has announced that he is seeking to unify Taiwan at all costs, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) forgot to ask about Taiwan’s willingness, Yoho said.
“Taiwan has never been part of the PRC, nor do they want to,” he said, adding that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait need peaceful negotiations.
Support for Taiwan has increased in the US Congress.
US Representative Mike Gallagher on June 30 proposed a draft Taiwan Defense Act, which would ensure that the US Armed Forces would act in the case of a Chinese “fait accompli” invasion of Taiwan.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
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