The US House Armed Services Committee is exploring the possibility of joint weapons production with Taiwan in the proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024.
Taiwan-US ties are based on the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances,” the draft released by the committee on Monday says.
“Any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including boycotts and embargoes, is of grave concern to the US,” it says.
Photo: AP
The US “should continue to support the development of capable, ready and modern defense forces necessary for Taiwan to maintain sufficient defensive capabilities,” it says.
The effort should be accomplished through foreign military sales, direct commercial sales and industrial cooperation, with an emphasis on capabilities that support an asymmetric strategy, it says.
The US should also review and respond to requests from Taiwan for defense articles and services, it adds.
Other means include conducting practical training and military exercises with Taiwan, and maintaining exchanges between defense officials and officers from both sides, it says.
The exchanges aim to enhance cooperation on defense planning, improve the interoperability of the military forces of Taiwan and the US, and improve the reserve forces of Taiwan, it says.
The US “should increase its support to a free and open society in the face of aggressive efforts by the government of the People’s Republic of China to curtail or influence the free exercise of rights and democratic franchise,” the draft says.
The committee is aware that Taiwan is facing long delays in the delivery of defense articles purchased from the US, which is largely due to a cumbersome foreign military sales process and shipping delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it says.
Facilitating joint weapons production between Taiwan and the US in the region could “expedite the time to initial operating capability and build the capacity of Taiwan to replenish its own stocks in a crisis,” it says.
The committee requires the US secretary of defense to provide a report to the congressional defense committees by March next year on the benefits and challenges of the coproduction of weapons and munitions for Taiwan, it adds.
Nikkei Asia in October last year cited multiple unnamed sources as saying that US President Joe Biden’s administration was considering joint production of weapons with Taiwan to more effectively deter China.
“What I would say broadly is that the US is looking at all options on the table to ensure that the rapid transfer of defense capabilities to Taiwan can take place as swiftly as possible,” US Department of State principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said at the time.
All subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee put forward proposals for the NDAA and were to meet yesterday and today to discuss the proposals, while a full committee markup is scheduled for Wednesday next week.
The US Senate and the US House of Representatives generally pass their own versions of the NDAA and vote on a renegotiated version before the bill is signed by the president.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS