It is unlikely that the proposed US Taiwan policy act would clear the US Congress this term, a senior Taiwanese official with knowledge of the issue said on Wednesday.
The bill was approved by a US Senate committee last week.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Taiwanese authorities “had known the proposed bill would not clear the current Congress before it was introduced to the Senate” in June.
The bill, which contains a pledge to provide Taiwan with up to US$6.5 billion in arms purchases, on Thursday last week passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a 17-5 vote and was sent to the US Senate for consideration.
However, some of the bill’s original proposals — including renaming Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, requiring Senate approval for the appointment of envoys to Taipei and designating Taiwan as a major non-NATO ally — were either removed or made nonbinding.
The official said it would be “highly difficult” for the bill to clear the Senate and the US House of Representatives before the congressional term ends on Jan. 3 next year.
The bill would also still need to be signed into law by US President Joe Biden.
Nevertheless, one of the bill’s sponsors, US Senator Robert Menendez, who also chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had hoped to “demonstrate his support for Taiwan” by sponsoring the bill, the official said.
Taipei and Menendez started discussing the bill in April, when the senator and the bill’s other sponsor, US Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, visited Taiwan.
Commenting on the bill at an event in Washington last week, US Representative Brad Sherman also said it was unlikely that the bill would clear the current Congress.
However, some of the bill’s provisions could be included in the proposed US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal 2023, which authorizes funding levels and provides key policy guidance for the US military, Sherman said.
The Taiwanese official held similar views, saying that Taipei hopes that provisions of the Taiwan policy act pertaining to national security would be included in the NDAA.
The source declined to elaborate, saying only that “we are still in the process of negotiating with their Congress.”
The US Congress has passed the NDAA every year for the past 60 years, the official said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS