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Washington raises Taiwan stakes — Analysis

According to the US Senate’s proposal, Taipei would receive $4.5 billion worth of weapons in return for its membership in international organizations.

For $4.5 Billion, a bill would authorize the purchase of US weapons “defense” of Taiwan and promote Taipei’s membership in international organizations, among other things, cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday in a 17-5 vote. The Taiwan Policy Act comes after weeks of escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing that started with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

This bill is designed to “reinforce US policy towards Taiwan in order to maintain stable cross-Strait deterrence,” said Senator Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who chairs the committee, accusing China of a “campaign to undermine the status quo.”

“The most comprehensive revamp of US-Taiwan policy in more than four decades,”Politico described the situation as $4.5 Billion. “direct military assistance”Taipei and “bolster Taiwan’s sovereignty”encourage its membership of international organizations. Menendez and its cosponsor, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, insisted this does not go against the US official policy of ‘One China.’

Menendez refuted the argument that the bill will stoke tensions between Beijing and Washington, saying instead that it is. “carefully and strategically lowering the existential threats facing Taiwan by raising the cost of taking the island by force so that it becomes too high a risk and unachievable.”


The only thing keeping US and China from war is running dangerously thin

Chinese President Xi Jinping is granted the bill “reasons to think twice about invading Taiwan,”Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho who is the most prominent member of the committee’s Republican leadership team said this: Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley said that if the US doesn’t “crank up our support for Taiwan, there will be a military offensive” by China against the island.

Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, voted no to the bill. He said it was unacceptable. “not a time to radically change long-standing policy”Without understanding the consequences. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, also voted against. He said that the talk of “symbols of sovereignty”could “irritate the Chinese”Without the US getting any benefits from it. Utah Republican Mitt Romney called it the bill “highly provocative and bellicose,”But, I voted anyway. 

Politico says it’s not known if Congress will approve the bill before year end or whether President Joe Biden will sign it.

Beijing is “firmly opposed”Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated earlier Wednesday that she had spoken to reporters about Taiwan Policy Act. Mao also stated that One China’s policy was in place. “the political foundation”Relations between Beijing and Washington “only by handling Taiwan-related issues prudently and properly can further damage be prevented to China-US relations.”

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