August 14, a two-party congressional delegation of members of the Congress led by U.S. Senator Ed Maggie arrived in Taipei.
Core summary:
1. The Taiwan Policy Act proposed by the U.S. Senator in June this year is a major upgrade of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 and is the limiting operation to enhance US-Taiwan relations. Once the legislation is successful, the United States and Taiwan will almost be an official relationship without formal diplomatic recognition, which will inevitably have an unprecedented major impact on Sino-US relations and greatly undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
2. The most important aspects of the bill are the interaction between the United States and Taiwan and the defense relationship. Among them, "improper" restrictions on the interaction between the US federal government and the Taiwan authorities are prohibited; "weapons that help deter the People's Liberation Army's aggression" and military aid totaling $4.5 billion; and formally grant Taiwan "mainly non- NATO allies Status”; helping Taiwan deal with "information war" and other content are serious behaviors that change the status quo, and they do almost everything they can do except formal diplomatic recognition.
3. At present, the Taiwan Policy Act has not been passed by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but even if the legislation cannot be completed in time, China should be wary of some of its contents being incorporated into other bills such as the " National Defense Authorization Act ". The bill undoubtedly seriously violates the three joint communiqués of China and the United States, and must be firmly opposed.
In recent years, the US Congress has been extremely active on the Taiwan issue.
August 14, US Senator Mark Ma and five others followed the footsteps of the US House of Representatives Speaker Pelosi followed in the footsteps of Taiwan and visited Taiwan. On August 15, the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army of China organized joint combat readiness police patrols and practical drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan. This also shows that what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said a few days ago that as long as the US side seriously provokes once, China will fight resolutely once. This is not a false statement.
In addition to Taiwan, the US Congress also has other undercurrents involving Taiwan. What is most worthy of attention is that the "Taiwan Policy Act" was jointly proposed by Democratic Senator and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Menedes, and Republican senior senator Graham on June 16, 2022.
Democratic Chairman Menedes (right) and Republican Senate Senator Graham (left)
Both visited Taiwan in April 2022 and met with Tsai Ing-wen, Gu Lixiong, and Wu Zhaoxiong , Qiu Guozheng and others. Menedes declared that the Taiwan Policy Act is the most comprehensive adjustment of the United States' policy toward Taiwan since the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979.
is different from some Taiwan-related bills passed by the US Congress in recent years, and the Taiwan Policy Act is 107 pages, attempting to enhance US-Taiwan relations in an all-round and substantial manner, which can be regarded as the "Relations with Taiwan Law" Major upgraded version. Once the legislation is successful, it will surely have an unprecedented major impact on Sino-US relations and greatly undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
"Taiwan Policy Act" screenshot
The content of this bill is very "rich". The most important thing about is the two aspects of the interaction between the United States and Taiwan and the defense relationship .
First of all, This bill prohibits imposing "improper" restrictions on the interaction between the US federal government and the Taiwan authorities; allows the Taiwanese authorities to display logos with sovereign meanings, including the "Flag of the Republic of China"; renamed the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" to "Taiwan Representative Office"; the director of the Taipei Office of the American Association in Taiwan needs to be appointed through the Senate and called it "representative".
As we all know, after China and the United States officially established diplomatic relations in 1979, The US State Department formulated specific guidelines for the administrative department for contact with the Taiwan authorities, and restricted the levels, locations and occasions of contact with Taiwan to reflect the Unofficial relationship. The
guideline has undergone several updates, especially during the Clinton administration, but basically maintains some of the most important and sensitive restrictions.
Trump The final stage of the administration period, Secretary of State Pompeo made a crazy move and announced the abolition of all restrictions on exchanges with Taiwan. After the Biden administration came to power, it re-issued new guidelines for exchanges with Taiwan and restored several restrictions.
The above provisions of the Taiwan Policy Act attempt to minimize the unofficial color of US-Taiwan exchanges, and it can even be said that they have done almost everything except formal diplomatic recognition.
According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration lobbies Democratic senators in early August to stop the Taiwan Policy Act
Secondly, as for US-Taiwan Defense Relations , the bill has the following main contents:
1, amends "Relations with Taiwan" The Law, after providing text to Taiwan with "defensive weapons", adds "weapons that help deter the invasion of the People's Liberation Army" and prioritizes and accelerates the handling of arms sales to Taiwan. These terms will provide the United States with various weapons, including offensive weapons, to Taiwan, to eliminate legal obstacles, , opening the door to convenience;
2, requiring the US Secretary of Defense to conduct an annual assessment of the US strategy to defend Taiwan;
3, is established The 4-year "Taiwan Security Assistance Initiative" , a total of US$4.5 billion, helps Taiwan develop its military strength; establish a joint assessment, training and planning mechanism between the United States and Taiwan. These terms will allow the United States to influence Taiwan’s military strategy to a greater extent and enhance the “interoperability” of the two armies, and interoperability is an important indicator of the closeness between the army;
4 and officially gave Taiwan “ Major non-NATO allies status”. Although the "mainly non-NATO ally status" does not mean the United States' security commitment, and the United States has begun to regard Taiwan as a de facto "mainly non-NATO ally" in arms sales in 2002, , according to the U.S. State Department, This status is a symbol of close relationship between the two sides and enjoys privileges in defense trade and security cooperation. Currently, the United States has 18 "mainly non-NATO allies", including Argentina , Australia, Bahrain , Brazil , Colombia, Egypt , Israel, Japan, Jordan , Kuwait , Morocco , New Zealand , Pakistan , Philippines , Qatar , South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia .
NATO Member States Meeting
In addition, the bill also includes:
Help Taiwan to deal with the "information war" and help countries and entities friendly to Taiwan to deal with the "economic coercion";
help Taiwan join and meaningfully participate in international organizations, State that UN resolution 2758 has not taken a stance on Taiwan's "representative and sovereign status", This is essentially the so-called "Taiwan status is not determined" ;
calls on the US to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible and include Taiwan in "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework";
set up the "Taiwan Awards and Assistance Program" to encourage U.S. federal government employees to study and exchange in Taiwan. The
Act also poses sanctions threats to mainland China: Once mainland China implements a "major upgrade of hostilities against Taiwan", relevant personnel and institutions in mainland China should impose sanctions such as asset freezing, entry ban, and visa revocation.
From the above content, it can be seen that this bill is the limiting operation to enhance US-Taiwan relations.
The editorial board of the New York Times published a comment article on August 6
Bill finally stated that this does not mean "restoring diplomatic relations with the Republic of China" or "changing the US government's position on the international status of the Republic of China." But these statements feel quite like there is no silver here. If the bill is successfully enacted and its contents have to be implemented, the United States and Taiwan will almost be an alliance without formal diplomatic recognition and no formal alliance relationship.
Even if it is a "status status" unilaterally defined by the United States or its "one China" policy unilaterally explained, This is also a major change in the status quo and violation of the "one China" policy, and must be firmly opposed.
However, the Taiwan Policy Act has not yet been passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , which also postponed its review twice on July 19 and August 3.
The Biden administration has not made public statements on the bill, but is reportedly lobbying Democratic senators to shelve the bill.
On the Taiwan issue, the Biden administration must act carefully
It is obvious that the bill is extremely provocative and will have a major impact on Sino-US relations. It will also compress the flexible space for the White House to formulate policies.
On the issue of Pelosi's outrage, the Biden administration used the excuse of separating powers and separating , which did not play a due role in stopping this farce.
However, on the issue of legislation, President Biden has the influence on Democratic lawmakers and the veto power of the bill. should play a more responsible role .
On the other hand, even if the Taiwan Policy Act cannot complete legislation in a timely manner, China should be wary of some of its contents that may appear in the form of incorporation of other bills such as the National Defense Authorization Act.
Finally, China's series of countermeasures against Pelosi's exodus also clearly demonstrate that in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, China will never pay for the results of other countries' domestic politics. No one should underestimate the strong determination, firm will and strong ability of the Chinese people to oppose "Taiwan independence" and promote the reunification of the motherland.
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