The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that contains two key amendments seeking to enhance Taiwan's protection from China's military threats and demanding more information on administration efforts to promote Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization (WHO).
The House approved the bill 382 to 42, after unanimously approving the inclusion of the two provisions regarding Taiwan the day before.
The authorization bill now goes to a conference committee with the Senate to work out differences with the Senate version of the State Department legislation.
It is uncertain whether the measures about Taiwan will survive the conference. In recent years, the Senate has been loath to go along with a number of pro-Taipei amendments added to State Department, defense and other authorization bills.
One amendment, which is a non-binding "sense of Congress" measure, calls on China to dismantle the hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles it has deployed opposite Taiwan. If it does not do so, the bill calls on US President George W. Bush to OK the sale of the sophisticated AEGIS system to Taipei.
It also urges Bush to seek from China an immediate renunciation of the use of force against Taiwan, and to impress on Beijing that he will reject any deal, such as that raised by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) last year, to reduce the missile force in exchange for curbs on US arms sales to Taiwan. The amendment also asserts that Taiwan's future should be determined peacefully and with the express consent of the people of Taiwan.
Representative Robert Andrews, a leading proponent of the amendment, said, "This resolution urges the administration to let the PRC government know that America will no longer tolerate the constant harassment targeted toward the people of Taiwan."
He described the amendment as "a step toward protecting a fellow democracy from the threat of Chinese aggression."
The second amendment, introduced by the four co-chairmen of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, insists on annual reports from the secretary of state on what the administration is doing to push Taiwan's bid to gain observer status in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva.
In a statement supporting the legislation on the House floor, Representative Sherrod Brown, a caucus co-chair and leading Taiwan supporter in Congress, said, "although no vote on Taiwan's status was held this year at the WHA, significant international political progress was made. Congress stands united on Taiwan's participation in the WHA."
This year, the House approved a bill backing Taiwan in the WHA in March, but "the Senate version encountered a procedural delay," so Bush did not sign it until May 29, after the Geneva meeting ended, Brown said.
Representative Robert Wexler, another caucus co-chair, complained about the WHA's lack of a Taiwan vote.
"Unconscionably, the WHO's decisions were based not upon its concern for the people of Taiwan but rather on short-sighted political considerations and China's rejection of Taiwan's membership in the WHO," Wexler said.
"This amendment makes a clear and uncompromising declaration of US support for Taiwan's candidacy for observer status in the WHO. I urge the Bush administration, which as taken bold steps to assist Taiwan in the past, to bring this issue to a vote at the World Health Assembly in May 2004," he said.
Representative David Wu (吳振偉), who was born in Taiwan, said, "It defies common sense that in today's interconnected world Taiwan has been walled off from the international public health community."
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with