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US Congress revives Taiwan Security bill

Pro-Taiwan Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress are pressing ahead with legislation that would bolster U.S. military ties with the island and expand U.S. training of ROC military personnel.

The draft version of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, scheduled for a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, risks provoking a backlash from Beijing ahead of a critical Congressional vote on the U.S.-PRC trade agreement which is paving the way for mainland China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

However, even if the TSEA does receive approval from both the House and the Senate, it is still likely to be vetoed by U.S. President Bill Clinton. The bill was passed by the House's International Relations Committee last October after some of the most controversial provisions were deleted.

Revival of the TSEA comes at a time when contacts between the U.S. and mainland Chinese armed forces have just resumed after a seven-month hiatus caused by NATO's accidental bombing of the PRC Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict.

Lieutenant General Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army, visited Washington last week for three days of talks with senior U.S. figures.

During those discussions, the U.S. warned Xiong that mainland China's missile buildup has raised the issue of whether to supply Taiwan with theater missile defense (TMD) equipment.

U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Walter Slocombe, who led the U.S. side during the talks, said to reporters that the mainland Chinese general had been told: "One of the factors in our decisions about arms sales to Taiwan is the state of the [mainland] Chinese threat to Taiwan, because our statutory standard and our policy is to provide Taiwan with a sufficient defense capability, and obviously the level of Chinese deployment and the character of it is a very important factor in that."

Slocombe also said that the U.S. Administration has expressed its hope to Beijing and Taipei that both sides avoid increasing cross-strait tension ahead of Taiwan's presidential election, which is scheduled for March 18.