Senior members of the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would force US President Barack Obama to consult with Congress and keep it informed about potential arms sales to Taiwan.
Sources said that one immediate impact would be to pressure the White House to make a decision on Taiwan’s request to buy 66 advanced F-16 C/D fighters.
Advisers to Obama have recently indicated that at this stage a decision is not likely to be made until well into next year.
The new bill — H.R. 4102 — was introduced by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Taiwan Caucus co-chairs Shelley Berkley, Phil Gingrey and Lincoln Diaz-Balart plus four other representatives.
If passed, it would require the Obama administration to provide detailed briefings to Congress on all US arms sales to Taiwan and would “mandate briefings no later than 90 days after the date of the enactment and at least annually thereafter.
In addition the secretary of state, in consultation with the secretary of defense, would be required to inform Congress about any discussions between any US government officials and the government of Taiwan.
The briefings must include any potential transfer of weapons or defense services to Taiwan.
The idea is to ensure that Congress is fully informed of the administration’s arms talks with Taiwan and is not surprised — as has happened in the past — by White House decisions coming out of the blue.
The introduction of the bill was timely “because Taiwan supporters are disturbed by President Obama’s statements in China,” said Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a group based in Washington.
“He failed to mention the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA] while saying that the US respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity through the three joint communiques. That’s likely to embolden China to press even harder her spurious claim over Taiwan,” Yang said.
“Such statements seriously undermine US legitimacy to continue providing defense articles and services to Taiwan as codified in the TRA,” he said.
“For the past few years, members of Congress have been expressing strong concern about the stalemate in US arms sales to Taiwan. Their repeated appeals to the administration have gone unheeded. Annual briefings, as mandated by this bill, will reassert Congress’ prerogative to co-determine with the president the nature and the quantity of defense articles and services sold to Taiwan,” Yang said.
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation. “With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice,” he
GLOBAL SUPPORT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the motion highlighted the improper exclusion of Taiwan from international discussion and cooperative mechanisms Taiwan yesterday thanked the British parliament for passing a motion stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, making it the latest body to reject China’s interpretation of the resolution. The House of Commons on Thursday debated the international status of Taiwan and unanimously passed a pro-Taiwan motion stating that the House “notes that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the political status of Taiwan or establish PRC [People’s Republic of China] sovereignty over Taiwan and is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the UN and on Taiwanese participation in UN agencies.” British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Parliamentary
HIGH ALERT: The armed forces are watching for a potential military drill by China in response to the president’s trip, with the air force yesterday conducting an exercise President William Lai (賴清德) is to make stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during his seven-day trip to the South Pacific, his first official visit since taking office in May, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Lai, accompanied by a delegation, is scheduled to depart for the South Pacific on a chartered flight at 4:30pm tomorrow, stopping first in Hawaii for a two-night layover before traveling to the Marshall Islands, an office official said. After wrapping up his visits to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the president is to transit through Guam, spending a night there before flying to Palau,
RSS