US Senators, namely Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Lindsey Olin Graham (R-SC), have put forward legislation to bolster ties with Taiwan. This comes as many in the international space are increasingly worried about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, especially as China ramps up its military exercises around Taiwan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth month.
The bill would designate Taiwan as a “major non-NATO ally.” It would also allocate $4.5 billion over the next 4 years to help Taiwan with military preparedness, as China continues to belligerently threaten to invade Taiwan.
The bill would also help to prioritize weapon sales to Taiwan and suggests that the Secretary of Defense should cooperate with their Taiwanese counterparts to participate in joint military exercises.
The legislation would also push the State Department to rename the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” as the “Taiwan Representative Office,” similar to what Lithuania has done.
The Senate bill has been introduced and may be voted on as early as next week. When or if the House of Representatives will do the same is still unknown, though there has been, broadly speaking, a bipartisan consensus on supporting Taiwan in the US.
China has criticized recent moves such as this one (as the CCP is want to do). However, as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has pointed out, China has been the one that changing their policy and actions toward Taiwan, not the United States.