WASHINGTON: US Republican lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation seeking to provide $2 billion a year and other aid to defend Taiwan in the face of mounting pressure from China.
The law, reviewed by Reuters, would authorize $2 billion a year in foreign military financing – US grants and loans that enable countries to buy weapons and defense equipment produced in the United States – for the self-governing island through 2032. .
While the bill is sponsored only by Republicans, the minority party in the Senate, it adds to congressional pressure on Democratic President Joe Biden for bold action to strengthen ties with diplomatically isolated Taiwan.
The United States is the main military supplier to the democratic island nation.
The main sponsor of the bill is Senator Jim Risk, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Co-sponsors include Republican Senators Mike Crapo, John Cornyn, Bill Haggerty, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.
It was not immediately clear how Democrats view the bill. Support for Taiwan is a rare issue that garners bipartisan support in a deeply divided Senate.
The funding will come with terms, including whether Taiwan is committed to matching US spending, and whether Taipei and Washington agree to a joint long-range plan for capacity development.
The United States has urged Taiwan to pursue defense reforms to focus on capabilities to make its military forces more mobile and harder to attack, as well as to maintain a strong reserve force.
The “Taiwan Deterrence Act” would also amend the existing Arms Export Control Act, which regulates foreign military sales, to make it easier for US firms to sell weapons to Taiwan. It will also require an annual assessment of Taiwan’s efforts to advance the defense strategy. China.
The bill would also improve military exchanges with Taiwan and expand opportunities for vocational military education and technical training in the United States for Taiwanese military personnel.
“The defense of Taiwan is critical to maintaining the credibility of the United States as a defender of the democratic values and free-market principles embodied by the Taiwanese people and government,” the bill’s text said.
China has recently increased military pressure, including repeated missions by Chinese warplanes near democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has not ruled out taking by force.
Biden reaffirmed a “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan and criticized China. Beijing blamed Washington’s policies of sending warships through the Taiwan Strait to support arms sales to Taiwan and heighten tensions.
On Wednesday, the US Defense Department in its annual report to Congress on China’s military reiterated concerns about increasing pressure on Taiwan.
The report renewed concerns about the development of China’s options for taking on Taiwan, although a defense official declined to speculate to reporters about whether this scenario was probable or whether the Department of Armed Conflict Looks at near or even medium term risk.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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