The US House of Representatives on July 1 passed by unanimous consent a bipartisan bill that would penalize Chinese officials who implement Beijing’s new national security legislation in Hong Kong, as well as banks that do business with them. The following day, the US Senate unanimously passed the bill, which was later sent to the White House, where it awaits US President Donald Trump’s signature.

The bill does not spell out what the sanctions would look like and Trump has yet to sign it into law, but Reuters on Thursday last week reported that five major Chinese state lenders are considering contingency plans in anticipation of being cut off from US dollars or losing access to US-dollar settlements.

A Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missile system is deployed next to the Changhua Reserve Runway on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) on May 28 last year for the annual Han Kuang military exercise.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times

The government yesterday thanked the US for approving the possible sale of a US$620 million missile repair and recertification package to Taiwan.

An outrageous dismissal of the exemplary Taiwanese fight against COVID-19 has been perpetrated by the EU. There is no excuse.

I presume that everyone who reads the Taipei Times knows that the EU has excluded Taiwan from its so-called “safe list,” which permits citizens unhindered travel to and from the countries of the EU.

As the EU does not feel that it needs to explain the character of this exclusive list, perhaps we should examine it ourselves in some detail.