“A bill to improve defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states that Congress finds (1) Taiwan is the seventh-largest U.S. trading partner in goods; (2) Taiwan is treated as a major non-NATO ally for purposes of defense transfers under section 1206 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (22 U.S.C. 2321k note); (3) the 2018 National Defense Strategy prioritizes defending allies and partners; (4) the Taiwan Relations Act requires defense articles and services for Taiwan's self-defense; (5) the U.S. has approved specified defense articles for Taiwan since 2017, including HIMARS and F-16 jets; (6) Taiwan was the largest Foreign Military Sales customer in FY2020; (7) Taiwan ranks third in total Foreign Military Sales from FY1950 through FY2020, tied with Japan; (8) Foreign Military Sales to Taiwan exceed $41 billion since 2010 and $56 billion since 2001; (9) the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 calls for regular defense sales emphasizing asymmetric capabilities; (10) the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 supports Taiwan's acquisition of asymmetric defense capabilities; (11) such Act also calls for timely responses to Taiwan's defense requests; and (12) the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission recommends raising congressional notification thresholds for sales to Taiwan to the highest tier for allies and partners and eliminating prior notification for maintenance of prior sales.
This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) enhanced support for defense cooperation with Taiwan—including designation as a member of the “NATO Plus” community of states (currently Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Israel, and New Zealand)—is critical to U.S. national security, including with respect to Foreign Military Sales to Taiwan and all associated rights, privileges, and responsibilities; and (2) Taiwan should be designated as a member of that community.
This section treats Taiwan as a country listed in specified provisions of the Arms Export Control Act—governing Foreign Military Sales prerequisites and financing (section 3), commercial arms sales and licensing (section 21), congressional notifications (section 36), transfers of defense articles between foreign countries (section 62), and co-development projects (section 63)—for purposes of applying and administering those provisions during the five-year period beginning on the date of enactment. (As background, such listed-country status, typically accorded to NATO allies and major non-NATO allies (e.g., Israel, Japan), raises congressional notification thresholds, streamlines licensing, and eases certain transfer restrictions.) The Secretary of State may extend this treatment for successive five-year periods if the Secretary determines it serves U.S. national security interests and notifies the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at least 14 days prior.