【Comment】
There might be a bill “the
Taipei Act 2018” in the near future.
The US finds no way
except supporting Taiwan to counter Bejing’s bullying.
This is a game between
powers.
Taiwan deserve a legal
tools to counter China.
U.S. Senator Plans Measure to Help Taiwan Keep
Its Allies….. ST 20180823
WASHINGTON — A leading
U.S. Republican senator said Thursday he is
preparing legislation to discourage Taiwan's few remaining allies from
switching their allegiance to China, after El Salvador became the third country
this year to move toward Beijing.
Senator Cory Gardner, chairman
of the Foreign Relations Committee's Asia subcommittee, told Reuters he
will introduce within a few days a measure encouraging countries to stick with
Taipei.
Among other things, he
said the measure would authorize the State Department to take action such as
downgrading relations or altering foreign assistance to discourage decisions
seen as adverse for Taiwan.
"The Taipei Act of 2018 would give greater tools and directions to the State
Department in making sure we are as strong a voice
as possible for Taiwan," Gardner told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
It would require a U.S.
strategy to engage with governments around the
world to support Taiwan's diplomatic recognition or unofficial ties. It also would authorize
State to downgrade U.S. relations, or suspend or alter U.S. foreign assistance, including foreign
military financing, to governments that take adversarial actions with regard to
Taiwan.
He stressed that the bill would not mandate action against countries that
have chosen diplomatic relations with Beijing.
"This is a permissive bill," he said. "It's something that gives one more tool in the bundle of tools to
address Chinese bullying."
On Tuesday, the State
Department said the United States was "deeply
disappointed" by El Salvador's decision and was reviewing its
relationship with San Salvador, without elaborating further.
Washington does not
recognize Taipei diplomatically but considers it a staunch ally in the Pacific
Rim. Several members of Congress, who
see Beijing as a threat to U.S. security and international influence, have
expressed frustration with what they see as President Donald Trump's failure to
adopt a strategy for Taiwan.
A legislative effort
to boost Taiwan, which would anger China, comes as Washington and Beijing have
escalated an acrimonious trade war. On
Thursday, the world's two biggest economies implemented punitive 25 percent
tariffs on $16 billion worth of each other's goods.
Taiwan now has formal
relations with only 17 countries, many of them small, less developed nations
such as Belize and Nauru.
Gardner
met last week with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen about what Congress could
do to support Taiwan.
The senator said he
had spoken to several Democratic senators, hoping to build bipartisan backing
necessary for his bill to pass the chamber.
He said he also planned to work with members of the House of
Representatives and the White House.
China has claimed
sovereignty over Taiwan since the 1940s, although both sides have been
self-ruled since then. Beijing considers
Taiwan a wayward province of "one China," ineligible for
state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the
island under its control.
(Reporting by Patricia
Zengerle; Editing by Mary Milliken and David Gregorio)
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