The United States has unsurprisingly come up with another way to continue to push for war. The U.S. Senate has proposed a bill that would commit $4.5 billion in US weapons for the defense of Taiwan and promote Taipei’s membership in international organizations.
This bill has already cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday in a 17-5 vote. Arming Taiwan will be seen as a provocation by the Chinese Communist Party. So far, the U.S. has successfully called China’s bluffs, but eventually, they will be pushed too far.
The bill aims to “reinforce U.S. policy towards Taiwan in order to maintain stable cross-Strait deterrence,” Senator Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who chairs the committee, said while accusing China of a “campaign to undermine the status quo.”
“The most comprehensive revamp of U.S.-Taiwan policy in more than four decades,” as Politico described it, would authorize $4.5 billion in “direct military assistance” to Taipei and “bolster Taiwan’s sovereignty” by encouraging its membership in international organizations. Menendez and its cosponsor, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, insisted this does not go against the official US policy of “One China.”
Political parasites believe that this bill gives Chinese President Xi Jinping “reasons to think twice about invading Taiwan,” Jim Risch of Idaho, the leading Republican on the committee, said. Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley said that if the US doesn’t “crank up… support for Taiwan, there will be a military offensive” by China against the island.
Kentucky Republican Rand Paul voted against the bill, saying it was “not a time to radically change long-standing policy” without appreciation for potential consequences. Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz also voted no, saying the talk of “symbols of sovereignty” may “irritate the Chinese” without the US getting anything out of it. Utah Republican Mitt Romney called the bill “highly provocative and bellicose,” but voted for it anyway. -RT
This does reek of a confrontation and provocation. Beijing is “firmly opposed” to the Taiwan Policy Act.
The United States has unsurprisingly come up with another way to continue to push for war. The U.S. Senate has proposed a bill that would commit $4.5 billion in US weapons for the defense of Taiwan and promote Taipei’s membership in international organizations.