The draft Taiwan policy act (TPA) seeks to “strengthen Taiwan’s defense and deter the aggression of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” US Representative Michael McCaul said on Wednesday as he introduced the US House of Representatives’ version of the bill.
McCaul, the most senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the China Task Force, said in a news release that the bill is meant to establish “a comprehensive set of tools to increase Taiwan’s military capabilities to deter and defeat a CCP attack.”
“Taiwan is a critical national security partner for the United States whose democracy is under an unprecedented level of threat from the CCP,” McCaul said.
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“Now is the time to arm our ally — before an invasion occurs, not after,” he said. “I’m proud to introduce this important legislation with 36 colleagues to help improve Taiwan’s defense immediately. Deterrence is key to stopping the CCP from provoking a conflict that would seriously harm US national security.”
The House version was introduced after a bill bearing the same name was approved by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Sept. 14, after some modifications.
Some of the bill’s original proposals — including renaming Taiwan’s de facto US embassy, requiring Senate approval for Washington’s envoy to Taipei and designating Taiwan a “major non-NATO ally” — were either removed or made nonbinding in the wake of misgivings from the White House.
Despite this, the updated bill still includes provisions authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in financing from next year to 2027 for Taiwan to purchase US arms.
The House version keeps the Senate’s original proposal to rename the de facto embassy as the “Taiwan Representative Office” and elevates the top US diplomat in Taiwan with Senate confirmation.
It also includes clauses authorizing up to US$6.5 billion in US foreign military financing over five fiscal years to Taiwan and expressing support for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.
The Senate version was introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez — chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.
It cleared the committee in a 17 to 5 bipartisan vote after some changes, which Menendez said were “minor” compared with provisions on defense assistance, which he described as “the core of the bill” alongside clauses relating to international forums and economic engagement.
To become law, the bill needs to pass the Senate and the House, and receive approval from US President Joe Biden before the conclusion of the 117th US Congress on Jan. 3 next year.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday said the proposed bill was “another friendly action by the House of Representatives to support deepening Taiwan-US relations after the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee approved the Senate version of the same bill on Sept. 14.”
“In the face of China’s military expansion and provocative actions toward Taiwan, the government will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and firmly stand against authoritarian aggression,” she said. “We will also further deepen our close security partnership with the United States, with whom we will jointly maintain peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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