US Senate committee clears bill that would bolster US ties to Taiwan

New legislation to solidify Washington's close but unofficial relationship with Taiwan cleared a key Senate committee on Wednesday, an important step on its path to becoming law.

The bill, called the Taiwan Policy Act, has been described by lawmakers as "the most comprehensive restructuring of US policy towards Taiwan" since Washington normalised relations with Beijing and cut off official ties with Taipei in 1979.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not immediately release an updated text of the bill that passed out of the closed-door meeting on Wednesday. Politico reported the committee's approval vote at 17-5.

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An earlier draft of the bill included billions of dollars in funding for Taiwan's military; sanctions against China's entire top political leadership and biggest banks if Beijing invades the island; and a new designation for Taipei as a "major non-Nato ally" of the US, a title held by Israel, Japan and South Korea, among other nations.

The earlier draft of the bill would also change the name of Taipei's de facto embassy in Washington to the "Taiwan Representative Office" and would allow Taiwanese officials to display their government's emblems and symbols - including the Republic of China flag - in meetings with Americans.

And it would expedite weapons sales to Taiwan while also boosting US military cooperation with the island.

"Today's strong, bipartisan vote not only signals our unwavering support for the Taiwanese people, but our recognition of the pivotal role that the United States Congress must play in confronting these challenges," said Senator Bob Menendez, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee and an author of the bill.

"We are carefully and strategically lowering the existential threats facing Taiwan by raising the cost of taking the island by force so that it becomes too high a risk and unachievable," Menendez added.

The bill now heads to the full Senate for a vote. To become law, it would also have to pass the House of Representatives, then US President Joe Biden would have to sign it.

Lawmakers have become increasingly alarmed that, under the leadership of Chinese president Xi Jinping, Beijing is growing more hostile towards Taiwan - especially in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

Menendez and Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, introduced the bill in June, two months after they travelled to Taiwan to meet with top officials there, including President Tsai Ing-wen.

Graham is also the top Republican on the powerful appropriations panel that oversees State Department funding.

When they introduced the bill, tensions were already high, and China had been sending hundreds of military planes buzzing by the island's air defence zone for months.

Since then, cross-strait tensions and antipathy between Washington and Beijing have soared.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew to Taipei in early August and met with Tsai there, the first visit by a House speaker since 1997.

China lashed out at her visit and conducted several days of live-fire military drills around the island, in what observers said was effectively a blockade.

The US and Taiwanese governments said that Beijing was merely using Pelosi's visit as a pretext to conduct the drills - which were unprecedented in scale - as a way to squeeze the island.

For years, US policy on the question of Taiwan's defence has been one of "strategic ambiguity" - that is, it is deliberately unclear if the American military would come to Taiwan's aid in the event of an attack by China.

Since taking office last year, Biden has suggested three times that the US would defend the island if needed.

Officials in his administration tried to walk back those comments each time he made them, insisting that there has been no change in policy, but some observers say that Biden is signalling his true intentions.

At the same time, White House officials have also made clear that they disapprove of at least parts of the new Taiwan Policy Act. Some accounts have indicated that the administration was trying to pressure Congress to soften the bill. The Financial Times reported that doubts include the "more symbolic elements".

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told Bloomberg last week that parts of the legislation "give us some concern".

He also said: "There are elements of that legislation with respect to how we can strengthen our security assistance for Taiwan that are quite effective and robust that will improve Taiwan security."

It was not immediately clear how much of the bill had been changed when it passed the committee.

Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its own territory and says it will eventually unite the island with the mainland, by force if necessary. It opposes other nations' contacts with Taiwanese government officials.

Under official US policy, Washington does not recognise Beijing's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan but "acknowledges" that the claim exists.

The US has not had formal diplomatic relations with Taipei since 1979, when Washington officially switched its diplomatic recognition to Beijing. The bill would not restore formal US diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

But under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, Washington maintains an unofficial relationship with Taipei and is obligated to sell Taiwan arms used in a "defensive character".

In a change, the new Taiwan Policy Act would widen that to include "arms conducive to deterring acts of aggression by the People's Liberation Army". It would also require the Pentagon to create a new "comprehensive training programme" with Taiwan.

Robert Sutter, a George Washington University professor and former China director of the State Department's intelligence and research bureau, said that the Biden administration would have more chances going forward to convince lawmakers to "water down" any parts of the bill it deems "excessive" as the legislation winds its way through Congress.

"There are many steps ahead," he said. "The coming weeks will show what actually results from the bill" that was passed by the committee on Wednesday.

A House aide said there were potential plans to introduce the legislation in the House of Representatives before lawmakers break for an October recess, which would span the final weeks leading up to midterm elections on November 8.

There is widespread bipartisan support for Taiwan in both chambers of Congress, and the alarm about Xi's intentions has only increased since Beijing's military drills in August.

"The CCP is only growing more belligerent, and setting up a security assistance framework for Taiwan is in the national security interests of the United States," said Texas Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House foreign affairs committee.

"I'm glad to see the Senate come together behind this idea in a bipartisan basis, and I plan on championing this idea in the House as well."

Taiwan, meanwhile, has been urging policymakers the US and around the world to push back harder against Beijing.

On Tuesday, Taiwan's de facto ambassador in Washington, Bi-Khim Hsiao, hosted dozens of lawmakers at her residence from parliaments around the world who had gathered in the US capital to discuss ways to confront China, according to Reuters.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Washington-based German Marshall Fund, Lai I-chung, president of the Prospect Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, said that "there's no controversy in Taiwan" on some elements in the bill, such as renaming the de facto embassy.

Lai, formerly the head of the China affairs department in Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party, was asked whether the legislation, if passed, would strengthen or undermine Taiwan's security.

"The resource differences between Taiwan and China ... places a huge limitation about what we can do," Lai said.

Financial assistance for Taiwan's military "actually provides another way for us to enhance our capabilities and add more resources. I personally very much want that to be part of" the bill.

Additional reporting by Kinling Lo and Robert Delaney

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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