US President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law a sweeping US$1.5 trillion spending bill, which includes a ban on the use of any maps by the US Department of State and its foreign operations that “inaccurately” depict Taiwan as part of China.
The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022, stipulates that “none of the funds made available by this Act should be used to create, procure, or display any map that inaccurately depicts the territory and social and economic system of Taiwan and the islands or island groups administered by Taiwan authorities.”
The bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act, an omnibus spending bill, is to fund federal government agencies for the remainder of fiscal 2022 to avoid an immediate government shutdown. The US Senate on Thursday approved the bill 68-31 and sent it to the White House.
Photo: Screen grab from the National Football League Communications’ Twitter account
The appropriation act was proposed in July last year by lawmakers including Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany, Steve Chabot and Scott Perry, who are friendly to Taiwan.
The bill that same month passed the US House of Representatives by a 217-212 vote, but did not move beyond the Senate and was instead packaged into the omnibus spending bill following revisions.
The original bill had stipulated: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to create, procure, or display any map that depicts Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou [烏坵, islands administered by Kinmen County], Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island [Lanyu, 蘭嶼] as part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China.”
Tiffany told the House that since the 1970s, the US has adopted a “one China” policy to accommodate Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China.
However, he said “Beijing’s bogus argument that Taiwan is part of Communist China” should be abandoned, adding that the bill would “require honest maps that stop perpetuating the ‘one China’ lie.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked the Biden administration and US lawmakers for supporting Taiwan-US relations.
The ban on inaccurate maps shows that the US “recognizes Taiwan as not being a part of China and is willing to take legislative action to ensure truthful depictions of the situation across the Taiwan Strait,” it said in a statement.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun said on Facebook that the ban would prevent US taxpayer money being spent on maps that show Taiwan as a part of China and instead use the funds to support “honest maps.”
“Taiwan is not a part of China. We thank US lawmakers in the US Senate and House of Representatives for their nonpartisan support of Taiwan and look forward to the growth of Taiwan-US relations,” he wrote.
The 2,741-page Consolidated Appropriations Act would also provide US$13.6 billion in emergency aid to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion, as well as weapons to NATO’s eastern European members.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the aid would include US$1 billion in military assistance, such as Javelin and Stinger missiles, to cement the alliance’s military strength.
The financial assistance also aims to fend off cyberattacks from Russia, he added.
Additional reporting by Yang Cheng-yu and Chung Li-hua
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS