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By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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US senators on Friday last week proposed a bill — the US-Taiwan partnership in the Americas act — supporting Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Latin America and the Caribbean to counter China’s pressure on them to sever ties with Taiwan.
The bill was introduced by US senators Jeff Merkley and Tim Kaine of the Democratic Party and US senators John Curtis and Pete Ricketts of the Republican Party.
“To support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that maintain official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, to counter efforts by the People’s Republic of China to coerce or pressure governments into breaking such ties,” the bill’s text explicitly states as its main purpose.
The US Capitol building in Washington is pictured on Sept. 21 last year.
Photo: CNA
The bill also aims to “deepen coordination with Taiwan on diplomatic, development, and economic engagement in the Western Hemisphere,” it states.
The bill was introduced as Taiwan faces increasing military and diplomatic aggression from China, which pressures Taiwan’s allies in the region to cut diplomatic ties, the senators said in a statement.
Taiwan has seven remaining allies in the region — Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The bill says China has pressured them to “sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan by leveraging opaque development deals and backroom pressure.”
The act would also require the US secretary of state to establish a mechanism to monitor and respond to China-backed infrastructure and development projects in those nations, the bill says.
The mechanism should identify projects that carry strategic risks or involve nontransparent financing, coordinate appropriate US diplomatic or technical responsess, and share relevant information with the US Congress and with US allies, it adds.
The bill states that the US secretary of state would be required to submit semiannual status reports to the US Congress regarding Latin American governments that have taken steps to discontinue diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and also submit a detailed plan to support the maintenance of relations with Taiwan no later than 30 days after the secretary of state determines a country is planning to.
“China’s campaign to bully countries into abandoning Taiwan is part of its broader effort to reshape the global order through coercion and backroom deals,” the statement quoted Merkley as saying.
“This bipartisan bill pushes back by supporting governments that choose to maintain ties with Taiwan and makes clear that every nation should be free to choose its partners without fear of retribution from Beijing,” he said.
It cited Curtis as saying that the bill ensures the US is not only tracking China’s coercive tactics, but “actively responding with transparency, accountability, and strategic coordination.”
“It sends a clear message: We stand with our allies, and we will not allow authoritarian pressure to dictate the choices of sovereign nations,” he said.
