The U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday (April 21) passed the cross-party “Strategic Competition Act” with a high vote, ensuring that the United States will be able to respond to the challenges of the Chinese Communist Party and counter Beijing’s ambitions for Taiwan and the region. The bill will then be sent to the full Senate for consideration.
The Central News Agency (CNA) reports that the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee met Tuesday to consider the Strategic Competition Act, introduced by Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Republican Jim Risch (R-Ohio) on April 8. The Strategic Competition Act.
Menendez said at the meeting that the scale, scope, and urgency of the Chinese (CCP) challenge are unprecedented and require a fully competitive policy and strategy to address it. The bill brings together an unprecedented cross-party effort to use all U.S. economic and diplomatic tools to develop an Indo-Pacific strategy that will allow the United States to truly confront the national security and economic challenges posed by China (the Chinese Communist Party).
Menendez said strategic competition is undoubtedly the right framework for viewing the U.S.-China relationship, “not because it’s what the United States wants or what the United States is trying to create, but because of Beijing’s past and present choices.
Since this is the most significant U.S. bill against the Communist Party in recent years, many lawmakers offered amendments during the session to incorporate their ideas into the historic bill. Among them was Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) proposal to change the title of the director of the AIT Taipei office to “Representative” and to require Senate consent for the appointment.
Only a few amendments were included to avoid the bill’s content touching on other committee responsibilities and to ensure the bill’s future passage in the House and Senate. Rubio’s amendment received 11 votes for and 11 votes against, not a majority, and was not included.
However, according to Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who introduced the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty Act (Taiwan SOS Act) in the last Congress to allow Taiwan’s diplomatic and military personnel to display the flag and wear uniforms on U.S. soil, the bill was passed by the House and Senate. The Taiwan Sovereignty Symbols of Sovereignty Act (TSSA) was initially adopted in the form of an amendment package.
With the endorsement of heavyweight members from both parties, the bill was successfully passed by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee with a high vote of 21 to 1; Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only member who voted against the bill.
The bill will then be sent to the Senate floor for consideration, and after it is passed by both chambers, it will be submitted to the President of the United States for signature and take effect.
The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee has not yet released the version of the bill passed on Tuesday, but according to the draft released by Congress on April 15, the 281-page bill has five major chapters that propose countermeasures against Beijing’s predatory economic practices, malicious war of influence, digital authority, military expansion, ambitions for Taiwan, and oppression of Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
This includes $15 million per year for fiscal years 2022 through 2027 to assist U.S. companies in withdrawing from the Chinese market and decentralizing their supply chains. It is also expected to allocate $75 million to promote the development of sustainable, transparent and high-quality infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s “Belt and Road” program.
In addition, the bill plans to allocate $300 million annually from 2022 to 2026 to combat the Chinese Communist Party’s malicious global influence. The bill also allocates $100 million per year over the same period to fund programs to support media abroad, establish independent media, combat disinformation, and invest in technologies that circumvent censorship of speech.
In the face of the CCP’s aggressive expansion of military force, the bill warns that the military balance in the Indo-Pacific region is increasingly unfavorable to the United States, and that Taiwan’s reunification is a key step in the CCP’s ambition to achieve regional hegemony; the defense of Taiwan has become more urgent and important as the Beijing authorities may accelerate their timetable for action against Taiwan after taking over Hong Kong.
The bill emphasizes that defending Taiwan will help limit the CCP’s ability to project its military power beyond the first island chain. The U.S. should also strengthen the Indo-Pacific Regional Security Partnership, including supporting Japan’s development of long-range precision firepower and encouraging and facilitating Taiwan’s accelerated acquisition of asymmetric defense capabilities.
To further strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan partnership, the bill states that U.S. policy should recognize Taiwan as a vital part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and promote Taiwan’s security and democracy as elements of peace and stability in the “greater Indo-Pacific region,” as well as important U.S. national security interests. The U.S. should also regularly engage in arms sales to Taiwan and actively promote Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.
In addition, the bill makes a rare claim that the U.S. should give Taiwan equal treatment with other governments. The bill calls for the U.S. Department of State and other government agencies to deal with Taiwan’s elected government on the same basis as other foreign governments, and to use the same language and courtesy. The U.S. should not impose any restrictions that limit the ability of the State Department and other agencies to interact directly and regularly with Taiwan.
The bill adds, however, that its contents should not be interpreted as requiring the resumption of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) or as changing the position of the U.S. government on Taiwan’s international status.
In terms of promoting democracy and human rights values, the bill plans to allocate $10 million in fiscal year 2022 for the U.S. Department of State to promote democracy in Hong Kong, and will also expand Xinjiang sanctions to include forced labor and forced birth control as matters that must be named and sanctioned by the U.S. President.
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