The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack.
The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says.
The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously.
Photo: AFP
“If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit assets of Beijing’s senior-most leaders, including the names of financial institutions and maintaining accounts,” Hill said during a speech to the House.
“Let these corrupt officials explain to ordinary Chinese citizens how they acquired their riches on a government salary,” Hill added, after suggesting that Beijing “has failed to deliver a social safety net and families are battered by sinking real-estate debt.”
“This bill goes beyond naming and shaming” as it would also “cut off access” to the US financial system for CCP officials and their “immediate family,” he said. “For Chinese officials whose families profit from their ill-gotten gains, they too will find the world becoming a much smaller place.”
The Arkansas representative said that the US’ formal diplomatic recognition of Beijing in 1979 was based on the premise that “the future of Taiwan would be determined by peaceful means.”
Any actions, including a blockade of Taiwan, would “threaten regional peace and security,” Hill said.
Sherman said that the bill “is designed to put the government of China on notice that the United States is closely watching its increasing threats toward Taiwan.”
“This bill does not focus on retaliating against the Chinese government per se, but rather on individuals who are in that government,” he said.
Sherman, who represents California’s 32nd district, said the measures stipulated in the act would only be triggered if the US president exercised their authority under Section 3 of the Taiwan Relations Act.
“I don’t expect that a triggering will ever occur, but it’s important to put Beijing on notice of what would happen if their threats against Taiwan raised to that level,” Sherman said.
In Taipei yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) expressed gratitude to the US Congress for using a “creative and effective way” to deter Chinese military aggression toward Taiwan.
“This kind of legislation allows us to jointly deter Chinese communist expansion and to uphold peace in the Indo-Pacific region, especially cross-strait stability and security,” Lin said.
‘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