The US Congress has passed the US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 that makes provision for Taiwan’s inclusion in US-led training programs with foreign countries as a way of increasing maritime security in the South China Sea and supporting bilateral military exchanges with Taiwan.
The bill will now be sent to the White House for US President Barack Obama to sign into law.
The US Senate passed the bill on Tuesday last week, five days after it cleared the floor of the House of Representatives.
The bill includes a South China Sea Initiative that authorizes the US secretary of defense, with the concurrence of the secretary of state, to provide assistance and training programs aimed at “increasing maritime security and maritime domain awareness of foreign countries along the South China Sea.”
Such assistance and training may be provided to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, the bill says.
It allows for the inclusion of Taiwan, Brunei and Singapore, based on the US secretary of defense’s estimation of the costs beyond the US$50 million allocated for assistance and training under the China South Sea Initiative.
The Congress also passed a joint explanatory statement to accompany the defense act.
“We believe that the United States, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, should continue to make available to Taiwan such defense articles and services as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self- defense,” the statement said.
The statement also recommended the US Department of Defense carry out an exchange program for military officers from the US and Taiwan to improve military-to-military relations.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS