Title II — H.R. 419 (Introduced in House)

Sec. 201 Strengthening the defense of Taiwan

(a)

Maintenance of sufficient self-Defense capabilities of Taiwan— Congress finds that any determination of the nature and quantity of defense articles or defense services to be made available to Taiwan that is made on any basis other than the defense needs of Taiwan, whether pursuant to the August 17, 1982, Communiqué signed with the People’s Republic of China, or any similar executive agreement, order, or policy would violate the intent of Congress specified in section 3(b) of the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3302(b)).

(b)

Foreign military sales and licensed defense exports under the Arms Export Control Act— Congress finds that, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, the core purpose of foreign military sales and licensed commercial exports under the Arms Export Control Act should be to assist Taiwan in its ability to—

(1)

deter coercion;

(2)

defend against a strategy of coercive diplomacy employing threats or limited force;

(3)

repel an invasion; and

(4)

partner with civil responders and friendly foreign militaries.

(c)

Defense transfers— In order to accomplish the purposes of this section, the President is authorized to make available to Taiwan defense articles or defense services, including the following:

(1)

Air and air defense capabilities, including—

(A)

low-cost, survivable sensors;

(B)

command and control systems;

(C)

modern surface to air missiles;

(D)

upgrades to existing modern combat aircraft as well as new combat aircraft, including Vertical and Short Take-Off and Landing Aircraft (V/STOL);

(E)

radar, electronic warfare, and jamming capabilities;

(F)

passive defense measures (such as redundancy, dispersal, camouflage/deception, hardening, and rapid repair capabilities); and

(G)

access to satellites for remote sensing and communication.

(2)

Maritime capabilities, including—

(A)

additional sensor capacity for comprehensive maritime domain awareness;

(B)

cost-effective submarines for anti-surface, anti-submarine warfare, and other missions;

(C)

mines and mine countermeasure vessels; and

(D)

anti-ship cruise missiles.

(3)

Ground capabilities, including—

(A)

layers, short-range air defense;

(B)

critical infrastructure protection to ensure continuity of government;

(C)

air mobility;

(D)

unmanned air vehicles; and

(E)

accurate, GPS-guided short-range rockets.

(4)

Capacity for partnership with friendly foreign militaries, including—

(A)

command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance situational awareness systems;

(B)

enhanced doctrine exchange; and

(C)

enhanced senior-level training.

(d)

Rule of construction relating to Arms Export Control Act— Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede or modify section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776).

Sec. 202 Advanced combat aircraft for Taiwan

(a)

Statement of policy— Notwithstanding the upgrade of Taiwan's F–16 A/B aircraft, Taiwan will experience a growing shortfall in fighter aircraft, particularly as its F–5 aircraft are retired from service.

(b)

Authority To accept letter of request— Pursuant to the foreign military sales program authorized by the Arms Export Control Act, the President is authorized to accept a letter of request from Taiwan for price and availability data or for a formal sales offer with respect to the F–16C/D Fighting Falcon multirole fighter aircraft or other aircraft of similar capability, as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.

Sec. 203 Consultations on Taiwan arms sales

(a)

Briefings— Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and at least annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall provide detailed briefings to Congress on—

(1)

any discussions conducted between any executive branch agency and the Government of Taiwan during a covered period; and

(2)

any potential transfer to the Government of Taiwan of defense articles or defense services.

(b)

Definitions— In this section and section 201:

(1)

Covered period— The term covered period means, with respect to—

(A)

the initial briefing required under subsection (a), the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the date of such initial briefing; and

(B)

subsequent briefings required under such subsection, the period beginning on the day after the date of the most recent briefing and ending on the date of any such subsequent briefing.

(2)

Executive branch agency— The term executive branch agency has the meaning given the term agency in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code.

(3)

Defense article— The term defense article has the meaning given such term in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794).

(4)

Defense service— The term defense service has the meaning given such term in section 47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794).

Sec. 204 Annual report on defense transfers to Taiwan

(a)

In general— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the President shall transmit to Congress a report—

(1)

detailing each of Taiwan’s requests for purchase of defense articles and defense services during the immediately preceding one-year period, whether submitted through a letter of request (LOR) or conveyed by other authoritative means, except that the first report under this section shall cover the period 2006 through 2011;

(2)

describing the defense needs asserted by Taiwan as justification for such requests;

(3)

describing the decisionmaking process used to reject, postpone, or modify any such request, including—

(A)

with respect to significant military equipment, the country team assessment and recommendation as to whether the United States should sell such equipment; and

(B)

for each request, the elapse of time between the submission of such request and the completion of the interagency review process by the United States; and

(4)

detailing those defense articles and defense services listed in the Arms Sale Proposal described in section 25 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2765), including a description of the rationale for including or not including in such Proposal, as the case may be, all sales and licensed exports to Taiwan under such Act of major weapons or weapons-related defense equipment for $7,000,000 or more, and the extent to which a decision to not include in such Proposal such sales to Taiwan is consistent with such section.

(b)

Form— The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if necessary.

Sec. 205 Report on implementation of Taiwan Relations Act

(a)

In general— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to Congress a report on implementation of United States security policy under the Taiwan Relations Act.

(b)

Matters To be included— The report required under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, the following:

(1)

A review of the operational planning, policy reviews, and other preparations of the United States since 2000 to implement section 2(b)(6) and subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 3 of the Taiwan Relations Act, including the extent to which the United States retains the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan. Such review shall take into account whether Taiwan’s air and air defense forces retain the ability to effectively defend Taiwan against China’s ballistic missile and air threats, and the extent to which the absence of credible Taiwanese air defense forces may complicate the ability of the United States to resist any resort to force that jeopardizes the security of Taiwan.

(2)

An evaluation of all gaps in relevant knowledge about the capabilities and intentions of the People’s Republic of China as such capabilities and intentions might affect the current and future military balance between Taiwan and China, such as anti-access and area denial capabilities as well as anti-satellite and space warfare developments, including both classified United States intelligence information and Chinese open source writing.

(c)

Form— The report required under subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if necessary.

Sec. 206 Naval Vessel Transfer Authority

(a)

Transfer by sale— The President is authorized to transfer the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class guided missile frigates USS TAYLOR (FFG–50), USS GARY (FFG–51), USS CARR (FFG–52), and USS ELROD (FFG–55) to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office of the United States (which is the Taiwan instrumentality designated pursuant to section 10(a) of the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3309(a))) on a sale basis under section 21 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2761).

(b)

Costs of transfers— Any expense incurred by the United States in connection with a transfer authorized by this section shall be charged to the recipient notwithstanding section 516(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j(e)).

(c)

Repair and refurbishment in united states shipyards— To the maximum extent practicable, the President shall require, as a condition of the transfer of a vessel under this section, that the recipient to which the vessel is transferred have such repair or refurbishment of the vessel as is needed, before the vessel joins the naval forces of that recipient, performed at a shipyard located in the United States, including a United States Navy shipyard.

(d)

Expiration of authority— The authority to transfer a vessel under this section shall expire at the end of the 3-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Title II — Security Relations

II Security Relations