The US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday filed its draft of an annual defense policy bill containing provisions to bolster defense and cybersecurity cooperation with Taiwan.
The draft, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the committee approved in a bipartisan 24-1 vote on June 23, would authorize US$876.8 billion for military and national defense programs at the US departments of defense and energy.
It is to be debated in the Senate.
Photo: AFP
The bill directs the US secretary of defense to work with their counterpart in Taiwan to establish a “comprehensive training, advising and institutional capacity-building program” for Taiwan’s military forces.
The program would be aimed at enabling a “layered defense” of Taiwan by Taiwanese forces, including through the use of an asymmetric defense strategy, and would also boost interoperability between Taiwan and US forces and encourage information sharing, the bill says.
The legislation would also require US officials, including the secretary of defense and the heads of the US Cyber Command and the US Indo-Pacific Command, to engage with Taiwan on expanding military cybersecurity cooperation.
Aside from these initiatives, the draft NDAA would instruct the US Department of Defense to provide an assessment to the US Congress on how Taiwan has integrated the military capabilities it has received from the US over the previous 10 years.
It would also mandate the completion of a “comprehensive analysis of the risks and implications of a sustained military blockade of Taiwan” by China, a report that would be carried out by the secretary of defense and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in coordination with the US director of national intelligence.
The analysis would include an assessment of how China might execute a blockade, its possible precursors or warning signs, its potential effects on Taiwan and the US, and military and nonmilitary options for countering a blockade, the bill says.
In addition to the draft NDAA in the Senate, the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee passed a separate version of the legislation late last month.
Typically, after the House and Senate have passed their own versions of the NDAA, they negotiate a reconciliation of the bill to send to the president to sign into law before the end of the year.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book