US Senator Josh Hawley on Thursday introduced a bill that he said would “fast-track weapons to Taiwan” amid increasing tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Hawley said in a statement that the Taiwan weapons exports act would seek to hasten the delivery of critical weapons to Taiwan by expediting congressional approval and eliminating administrative roadblocks.
He said the bill is critical to ensure Taiwan has the weapons it needs to defend itself from a possible Chinese invasion, including naval mines, anti-tank missiles and portable air defense systems.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The bill seeks to change Taiwan’s designation under the US Export Administration Regulations to “Country Group A:5” from “A:6” for the purpose of receiving a strategic trade authorization license exception.
Other countries categorized as A:5 include NATO member states, Australia, India, Japan and South Korea, the statement said.
The regulations allow the US government to impose export controls to protect national security interests and promote foreign policy objectives, the US International Trade Administration Web site says.
Hawley’s bill also seeks to expedite licensing approval of arms sales to Taiwan, the statement said.
“The [US President Joe] Biden administration waited for Russia to invade before surging lethal aid to Ukraine,” Hawley said in the statement, adding that the “mistake” could not be repeated in the Indo-Pacific region. “That’s why it is so important to fast-track weapons to Taiwan now, while Taiwan still has time to marshal its defenses and deter a Chinese invasion.”
The senator last year introduced two bills that he said were part of efforts to “deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and strengthen US-Taiwan relations” — the Taiwan defense act and the arm Taiwan act.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Hawley for his support for Taiwan and the nation’s security, adding that it would carefully monitor the progress of the bill.
The ministry would continue to work closely with the US government to enhance the friendship between the countries and help promote peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
Additional reporting by Yang Cheng-yu
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS