The US Senate yesterday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes authorization of up to US$1 billion in funds for Taiwan-related security cooperation next year.
The legislation had already been approved by the US House of Representatives after the two chambers agreed on a compromise version of the massive bill, which covers more than US$900 billion in US national defense spending and related issues.
The bipartisan act reflects an “evolving security landscape and ensures the US remains prepared to deter adversaries like China and Russia while reinforcing vital partnerships with allies, including Taiwan,” US Senator John Curtis said in a statement yesterday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The NDAA authorizes up to US$1 billion in funding for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, which covers aspects such as medical equipment, supply capacity and "combat casualty-care capabilities."
It also authorizes US forces to continue training Taiwan and other partner countries to counter what the legislation describes as Chinese coercion and malign influence operations.
Under the NDAA, the Pentagon is required to “enable fielding of uncrewed and anti-uncrewed systems capabilities” with Taiwan by March 1 next year.
Systems covered by the act must comply with the Taiwan Relations Act and be usable by US and Taiwanese forces, it says.
Projected costs from next year through 2030 include deployments of US Coast Guard training teams to Taiwan to improve maritime security, law-enforcement capacity and deterrence, it says.
The NDAA also incorporates the Taiwan Non-Discrimination Act, which supports Taiwan's participation in the IMF.
Last week, the Chinese embassy in Washington denounced the legislation, saying that it unfairly targeted China as an aggressor.
“The bill has kept playing up the ‘China threat’ narrative, trumpeting for military support to Taiwan, abusing state power to go after Chinese economic development, limiting trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and disrupting efforts of the two sides in stabilizing bilateral relations,” the embassy said after the legislation passed the House.
“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” it said.
Additional reporting by AP
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