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To implement the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act concerning the stability and security of Taiwan and United States cooperation with Taiwan on the development and acquisition of defensive military articles.
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
- This Act may be cited as the 'United
States-Taiwan Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Cooperation Act'.
- The Congress finds the following:
- (1) The stability and security of Taiwan
and the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait are key elements for the
continued peace and stability of the greater Asia-Pacific region, and the
indefinite continuation of such stability and security and balance of power
is in the vital national security interest of the United States.
- (2) The People's Republic of China is
currently engaged in a comprehensive military modernization campaign that is
enhancing the power-projection capabilities of the People's Liberation Army,
including the introduction of advanced ballistic and cruise missiles that
could alter the current balance of power in the Taiwan Strait and in the
greater Asia-Pacific region.
- (3) The current lack of transparency in
the People's Republic of China military infrastructure and its associated
defense establishment and the opaqueness of the comprehensive efforts of the
People's Liberation Army to modernize its ballistic and cruise missile
programs could spark a regional arms race that would destabilize the East
Asia and Western Pacific regions and threaten vital United States national
security interests.
- (4) In March 1996, the People's
Liberation Army created a temporary, but de facto, blockade of both the
international shipping lanes of the Taiwan Strait and the international
airspace around Taiwan by conducting live-fire military exercises which
included the launch of several advanced, nuclear-capable M-9 ballistic
missiles to target areas close to major ports in both the northern and
southern areas of Taiwan.
- (5) In March 1996, the locations of
People's Liberation Army military activities and M-9 missile target areas
nearby to Taiwan's two largest ports, Keelung and Kaohsiung, created a de
facto blockade of the Taiwan Strait, international waters and airspace,
interfered with United States and international shipping and aviation, and
impinged upon the national security interests of the United States,
requiring the immediate deployment of two United States aircraft carrier
battle groups to the South China Sea.
- (6) The actions of the People's
Liberation Army in such close proximity to Taiwan were deliberate attempts
to disrupt Taiwan's social and economic stability and were carried out as
attempts to intimidate the people of Taiwan during the period leading up to
Taiwan's historic first democratic presidential election.
- (7) The early development and deployment
of an effective United States theater missile defense system to the
Asia-Pacific region, and the adjustment of United States policy to include
Taiwan, including the Penghu Islands, Kinmen, and Matsu, under the
protection of such defense system, would be prudent and appropriate
responses to--
- (A) the refusal by the People's Republic
of China to renounce the use of force to determine the future of Taiwan;
- (B) the nature of the military threat of
the People's Republic of China posed by the increased focus of the People's
Liberation Army on advanced missile development; and
- (C) the demonstrated intent of the
Government of the People's Republic of China to use live-fire military
exercises and ballistic missile tests against the people and Government of
Taiwan as tools of so-called coercive diplomacy.
- (8) The early deployment of a United
States theater anti-ballistic missile system in the Asia-Pacific region
would maintain a balance of power in the Taiwan Strait and deter the
People's Republic of China from resorting to military intimidation tactics
to coerce or manipulate the people and freely elected Government of Taiwan
in the future.
- (9) While Taiwan is currently acquiring a
local aircraft and ballistic and cruise missile defense capability in the
form of the Modified Air Defense System (MADS), a larger portion of Taiwan's
territory and population would be protected if this system were expanded to
include a defense of the Taichung region, Kaohsiung, the Penghu Islands,
Kinmen, and Matsu from limited ballistic missile attacks and a deterrent
against the threat and use of force against Taiwan by the People's
Liberation Army to achieve the political goals of the core leadership of the
People's Republic of China.
- (10) Taiwan has requested further United
States cooperation on missile defense, including the conduct of a joint
architecture study of the requirements for the establishment and operation
of a missile defense system for Taiwan, including the Penghu Islands,
Kinmen, and Matsu.
- (11) On June 9, 1898, the `Convention
Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory' was agreed to between
representatives of the governments of Great Britain and China to lease the
New Territories for the period of 99 years beginning on July 1, 1898.
- (12) On December 19, 1984, the
`Sino-British Joint Declaration', agreed to between representatives of the
governments of Great Britain and China, established the terms for the return
to China on July 1, 1997, of the Hong Kong area (including the Hong Kong
Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories (hereafter in this resolution
referred to as `Hong Kong').
- (13) No treaties exist between the
People's Republic of China and Taiwan which determine the future status of
Taiwan.
- (14) The People's Republic of China
attempts to apply to Taiwan the formula commonly known as `one country, two
systems' in an effort to annex Taiwan to China.
- (15) The People's Republic of China has
refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan and held military
exercises in the Taiwan Strait in March 1996 in an attempt to intimidate the
people of Taiwan in their first presidential elections.
- (16) The Taiwan Relations Act states that
`[i]t is the policy of the United States . . . to consider any effort to
determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by
boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western
Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States'.
- (a) STUDY- The Secretary of Defense shall
carry out a study of the architecture requirements for the establishment and
operation of a theater ballistic missile defense system in the Asia-Pacific
region that would have the capability to protect Taiwan from ballistic
missile attacks. The study shall include a description of appropriate
measures by which the United States would cooperate with Taiwan and provide
Taiwan with an advanced local-area ballistic missile defense system.
- (b) REPORT- Not later than July 1, 1998,
the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on National Security
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Armed Services of the
Senate a report containing--
- (1) the results of the study conducted
under subsection (a);
- (2) the factors used to obtain such
results;
- (3) a description of any existing United
States missile defense system that could be transferred to Taiwan in
accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act in order to allow Taiwan to provide
for its self-defense against limited ballistic missile attacks.
- (c) FORM OF REPORT- The report under
subsection (b) shall be submitted in both classified and unclassified form.
- It is the sense of the Congress that the
President, if requested by the Government of Taiwan and in accordance with
the results of the study conducted under section 3, should transfer to the
Government of Taiwan appropriate defense articles or defense services under
the foreign military sales program under chapter 2 of the Arms Export
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2761 et seq.) for the purpose of establishing and
operating a local-area ballistic missile defense system to protect Taiwan,
including the Penghu Islands, Kinmen, and Matsu, against limited ballistic
missile attacks.
- The Congress declares that it is in the
national interest of the United States that Taiwan be included in any effort
at ballistic missile defense cooperation, networking, or interoperability
with friendly and allied nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
- It is the sense of the Congress that the
Clinton Administration should make clear to the leadership of the People's
Republic of China, the American people's firm commitment for security and
democracy for the people of Taiwan and that the United States fully expects
that the resolution of security issues on both sides of the Taiwan Strait
will be resolved by peaceful means.
- It is the sense of the Congress that--
- (1) the transfer of Hong Kong to the
People's Republic of China does not alter the current and future status of
Taiwan;
- (2) the future of Taiwan should be
determined by peaceful means through a democratic process; and
- (3) the United States, in accordance with
the Taiwan Relations Act and the constitutional processes of the United
States, should assist in the defense of Taiwan in case of threats or
military attack by the People's Republic of China against Taiwan.
Attest:
Clerk.
END
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
