Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

US lawmakers urge better cooperation

Taipei Times

US lawmakers on Thursday introduced new legislation to strengthen Taiwan-US defense cooperation to counter Beijing’s aggression.

US senators Jacky Rosen and Dan Sullivan, along with US representatives Michelle Steel and Steven Horsford, introduced the bipartisan and bicameral bill, transpacific allies investing in weapons to advance national (TAIWAN) security act, calling for stronger Taiwan-US defense cooperation “to counter China’s growing military expansion in the region,” Rosen’s office said in a statement.

The bill requires the US Secretary of Defense “to enhance defense industrial base cooperation” between Washington and Taipei to “deepen US-Taiwan defense ties, promote supply chain security and help alleviate Taiwan’s readiness challenges,” it said.

Taiwan and the international order

Taipei Times Editorial

President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to accede to the presidency this month at a time when the international order is in its greatest flux in three decades. Lai must navigate the ship of state through the choppy waters of an assertive China that is refusing to play by the rules, challenging the territorial claims of multiple nations and increasing its pressure on Taiwan.

It is widely held in democratic capitals that Taiwan is important to the maintenance and survival of the liberal international order. Taiwan is strategically located, hemming China’s People’s Liberation Army inside the first island chain, preventing it from threatening US military bases that have been the bedrock of prosperity and security in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of World War II.

Lawmakers stall China travel bill

Taipei Times

Opposition lawmakers yesterday stalled a review of proposed amendments that would place greater scrutiny on elected representatives traveling to China, drawing a rebuke from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.

Procedure Committee members from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party voted against it, preventing the Internal Administration Committee from reviewing the bill, which was cosponsored by DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) and 17 others.

The proposed amendments to articles 9 and 91 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) would require elected representatives to obtain the approval of national security officials before visiting China.

VP Lai makes ‘Time’ influential list

Taipei Times

President-elect William Lai (賴清德), the vice president, has been listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world this year.

Lai, who is to take office as president next month, is a coal miner’s son who became a Harvard-trained public health expert, and prizes problem solving and trust, the magazine said.

When he is sworn in as president on May 20, Lai would face much bigger challenges than safeguarding the health of 24 million Taiwanese, as he has to ensure “his government’s very survival, amid China’s ramped-up campaign to reclaim the nascent democracy,” Time said in the article, which was published on Wednesday.

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