Two US senators on Friday reintroduced the Taiwan relations reinforcement act, which they said seeks to update US policy toward Taiwan to better reflect US values and the realities on the ground.
The bipartisan bill was introduced by US Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and US Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat and chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
If passed, the act would change the status of the director of the American Institute in Taiwan to “representative,” making their appointment subject to Senate approval, as is required for all US ambassadors.
It would also require the US president to establish an “inter-agency Taiwan task force,” comprised of senior government officials who would submit an annual report to the US Congress detailing actions that should be taken to enhance Taiwan-US relations.
Another provision would establish a nonprofit Taiwan-US cultural exchange foundation, which would work with local governments and educational institutions to send US high-school and university students to Taiwan to study Chinese, history and politics.
The act would also direct the US secretary of state to submit a report to Congress on how the US could work with Taiwan to establish an alternative to China’s Confucius Institutes, which offer Chinese-language education courses globally.
Merkley called on the US to keep building a robust relationship with Taiwan.
“Let’s pass the Taiwan relations reinforcement act, so we can expand exchange programs, continue to encourage Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations and work together to defend our businesses from the Chinese government’s coercion,” he said.
The bill was previously introduced in the Senate in October last year, but was not included in the congressional schedule of the previous term.
Meanwhile, a group of nine lawmakers asked US President Joe Biden’s administration to establish a facility to expedite travel to the US from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, as a show of support amid fears Taiwan could be targeted by an increasingly aggressive China.
The group of seven Republicans and two Democrats said in a letter dated Thursday that a preclearance facility at the airport “would improve the ease of travel between the United States and Taiwan and reinforce the importance of our relationship with Taiwan.”
The airport “already hosts numerous nonstop flights to the United States, and is a major transit point in Asia,” the lawmakers wrote to Troy Miller, the senior official performing the duties of the commissioner for US Customs and Border Protection.
“Taiwan is America’s ninth-largest trading partner and its government strongly supports Taoyuan airport’s bid for the preclearance facility program,” they added.
Preclearance facilities put US customs agents in a traveler’s starting country to make entry into the US go more smoothly.
Then-acting US secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said in a speech in December last year that Taiwan had made the request, but the Biden administration has not said if it will proceed with the plan.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS