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Taiwan Security Enhancement Act a win-win deal, say lawmakers

Published: Oct. 19, 1999 Source: Taipei Times

The U.S. Senate is likely to use the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act to keep mainland China's military threat in check, lawmakers who recently returned from a lobbying trip to Washington said yesterday.

While the bill enjoys wide support in the House of Representatives, the chances that it will pass in the Senate are slim, legislators said.

"Even if the bill doesn't make it in the Senate, the act of passing it in the House would put pressure on the Clinton Administration to give in to some of Taiwan's request on arm sales," said opposition lawmaker Parris Chang.

Although the lawmakers did not officially meet with Senator Jesse Helms, the chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee and a sponsor of the bill, they said part of his strategy is to use the bill to deter possible military action by mainland China against Taiwan.

"Helms' strategy is to control the speed of the bill in the Senate. It's a helpful bargaining chip against [mainland] China," said KMT lawmaker Eric Chu.

"The bill will get stalled in the Senate but the delay is a useful tactic," Chang said.

Government officials and scholars in Taiwan have previously agreed the bill is a "psychological deterrent" against the Chinese threat of force, because the heightened tension between Beijing and Taipei will only increase the chances that the bill may pass in the Senate.

The Clinton Administration has opposed the bill on the grounds that it is inconsistent with U.S. policy toward the island as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which extends qualified U.S. military support to the island.

But proponents of the bill argue that it is precisely because the U.S. government has failed to fulfill its obligations under the TRA that the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act is so badly needed.

Richard Bush, the chairman and managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), in a meeting with the legislators, said the bill is inconsistent with the pledge of unofficial relations between the U.S. and the ROC.

The proposed bill would upgrade the ROC's military relationship with the U.S. by calling for the sale of more advanced ballistic missile defense systems and the establishment of a new communications link between the two countries' armed forces.

"Bush said the bill would be a revival of a full military alliance with Taiwan," related Chang. "[He said] the bill would be unconstitutional because it would impinge upon the executive's power to conduct foreign policy by determining what kind of arms to sell to Taiwan," Chang said.

The wording of the bill is being softened in response to this concern, Chang said.

Bush also said the bill would violate the TRA by selling Taiwan offensive arms, which would increase tension across the Strait.