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US House body votes
to adopt new laws on Taiwan
By William Lowther / Staff Reporter in Washington
The US House of Representatives¡¦ Committee on Foreign Affairs voted unanimously
on Thursday to adopt two new laws to substantially boost US relations with
Taiwan.
While the bills may pass the full House, they are likely to fail in the Senate
where US President Barack Obama¡¦s administration has the votes to defeat them.
Nevertheless, the bills are an indication of just how much bipartisan support
Taiwan enjoys on Capitol Hill.
¡§This legislation is designed to address the drift and lack of strategic
thinking that has hurt the relationship [between the US and Taiwan] in recent
years,¡¨ committee Chairperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said.
She said there were a growing number of policy revisionists and apologists who
wanted to use Taiwan as a ¡§bargaining chip¡¨ to placate China.
¡§It was due to concern over these voices of appeasement that I felt it necessary
to further strengthen and clarify our relations,¡¨ Ros-Lehtinen said. ¡§These
concerns have only been amplified by the administration¡¦s regrettable and
shortsighted decision not to sell the next generation F-16C/D fighters to
Taiwan, despite growing evidence of China¡¦s increasing military threat to the
island.¡¨
¡§Taiwan needs those F-16s and she needs them now to defend the skies over the
Taiwan Strait. And Taiwan needs diesel submarines, and she needs them now to
protect her territorial waters from the rapidly expanding PLA [People¡¦s
Liberation Army] Navy,¡¨ she added.
The bills are the Taiwan Policy Act of 2011, H.R. 2918, ¡§to strengthen and
clarify the commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the
US and Taiwan,¡¨ and the Taiwan Airpower Modernization Act, H.R. 2992, ¡§to
provide Taiwan with critically needed multirole fighter aircraft.¡¨
¡§The bills considered and adopted today will help ensure that Taiwan¡¦s peace,
prosperity and security will be maintained for the next three decades and
beyond,¡¨ Ros-Lehtinen said.
The second bill ¡X if passed by both the House and Senate ¡X would require Obama
to sell 66 advanced F-16C/D aircraft to Taiwan.
¡§While the recent agreement by the US to upgrade Taiwan¡¦s existing fleet of
F-16s is a step in the right direction, Taiwan also urgently needs new advanced
combat aircraft to help meet the growing menace from communist China,¡¨
Ros-Lehtinen said.
Ros-Lehtinen said that it was ¡§long past due¡¨ for the White House to ¡§cease its
dithering¡¨ and sell Taiwan the F-16C/Ds.
Howard Berman, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said he was a strong
supporter of Taiwan and that both of the bills would ¡§bolster our bilateral
relationship with an important friend and ally.¡¨
Formosan Association for Public Affairs president Bob Yang later said: ¡§This is
a powerful signal to the people of Taiwan and the Taiwanese-American community
in the US.¡¨
He said the bills recognized the importance of the US-Taiwan relationship for
peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and for safeguarding freedom and
democracy.
The Taiwan Policy Act contains more than 20 provisions that will ¡§broaden and
deepen¡¨ the bilateral relationship between the US and Taiwan in many ways,
including trade and commercial ties, participation in international
organizations and through the sale of defensive arms.
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