US senators introduce legislation to strengthen defence ties with Taiwan
- Taiwan Partnership Act would bolster ‘exchanges between senior defence officials and general officers of the US and Taiwan to improve interoperability’
- The bill is also meant to increase ‘Taiwan’s capability to conduct security activities, including traditional combatant commands’
The Taiwan Partnership Act, sponsored by Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth and a group of Republicans including Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz as well as Rick Scott of Florida, would bolster “exchanges between senior defence officials and general officers of the US and Taiwan to improve interoperability, improve Taiwan’s reserve forces, and expand humanitarian and disaster relief cooperation”, according to a joint statement by the lawmakers.
The bill is also meant to increase “Taiwan’s capability to conduct security activities, including traditional combatant commands, cooperation with the National Guard, and multilateral activities”.
Instead of mandating any specific action or engagement channels, the bill – which is now under consideration in the Senate Armed Services Committee – would require the Defence Department to make recommendations by February 15, 2022 about “the feasibility of enhancing cooperation between the National Guard and Taiwan”.
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“Taiwan is an important strategic partner for the US in the Indo-Pacific region,” Duckworth said in the announcement, touting the need for “enhanced cooperation between our two peoples on important issues like emergency response, cyber defence, education, cultural exchange and adviser programmes”.
“Our National Guard units do great work in our communities every day, and they’re ideally suited to help build partner capacity across this range of skill sets in Taiwan,” she added.
Washington’s diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China in 1979 ended high-level contact between senior American and Taiwanese government officials, as the near simultaneous enactment of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, which compels Washington to provide military support for Taipei, also came with unwritten regulations governing ties with the self-ruled island.
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These rules included a prohibition on the five most senior Taiwanese officials – president, vice-president, prime minister, foreign minister, and defence minister – travelling to Washington and a stipulation that higher-level US officials could not meet their Taiwan counterparts.
But pressure to weaken these prohibitions increased as Taiwan transitioned in the 1990s from decades of one-party rule under the Kuomintang (KMT) to a more democratic model, and US legislation in recent years have chipped away at that separation.
The new policy followed a review of Washington-Taipei relations mandated by the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020, which states that these ties “should be crafted with the intent to deepen and expand United States-Taiwan relations”.
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The Taiwan Partnership Act would also establish “a partnership programme between the US National Guard and Taiwan” and require an annual report by Washington’s defence secretary “on the cooperation between the National Guard and Taiwan”.
“Taiwan is a critical ally in a region facing growing destabilisation and competition for power,” Cornyn said about the new bill. “This legislation would help ensure the National Guard is ready to act in support of Taiwan should its autonomy be threatened.”
