US House Committee issues 10 recommendations to toughen Taiwan

These include expanded military training between US and Taiwan

Focus on Indo-Pacific

G Iuvinale

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on China on Wednesday (May 24) put forward 10 recommendations to ensure peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

This includes accelerating the delivery of arms, formulating joint plans with U.S. allies and partners, expanding U.S.-Taiwan combined military training, and establishing a U.S.-Taiwan joint planning group, among other measures.

The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) put forth its first policy recommendations of the 118th Congress to "combat the ongoing Uyghur genocide and enhance deterrence in the Taiwan Strait." This included 10 bipartisan policy recommendations in a report following a war game the committee held on April 19 to simulate a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

After the proposals were approved by members, Mike Gallagher, the chair of the committee, pointed said that the conclusions of the war game demonstrated the consequences of failing to deter China were grim. It meant 80,000 People's Liberation Army troops on Taiwan, U.S. bases in the region destroyed, "financial markets tanking," Chinese banks removed from SWIFT system, shipping halted, and global trade frozen.

To ensure that this game "stays fictional" Gallagher said the U.S. must provide Taiwan with the weapons they have purchased.

The U.S. must clear the backlog of arms sales, reinvigorate the U.S. defense industrial base, and stress to allies and partners the importance of economic deterrence.

The report said that Taiwan is the cornerstone of the global economy and an important partner of the U.S.. Although never having exercised control over Taiwan, the CCP claims historical sovereignty over the island and threatens to "reunify" it with China, by force if necessary.

The authors argued the CCP's increasingly provocative approach to Taiwan threatens the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and violates the underpinnings of U.S. policy on China and Taiwan. The U.S. should strengthen its commitment to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act.

The CCP’s provocative actions raise serious concerns about the possibility of "outright military aggression against Taiwan," according to the report. It said that it is in the political, security, and economic interests of the U.S. to deter China from taking military action against Taiwan.

The following are the 10 recommendations of the committee to increase deterrence in the Taiwan Strait:

1. Manufacture and supply more long-range missiles to the Indo-Pacific region.

2. Devise severe economic costs in concert with allies ahead of time, should the CCP act against Taiwan.

3. Expand combined military training between the U.S. and Taiwan.

4. Deliver the US$19 billion of backlogged military equipment and weapons that Taiwan ordered from the U.S.

5. Establish a U.S. military Joint Task Force or Joint Force HQ for crisis command and control in the Indo-Pacific Command

6. Enhance cyber resiliency in U.S. critical infrastructure, especially at port, air, and rail facilities with emphasis on military mobility.

7. Help train Taiwan to strengthen its own cybersecurity.

8. Create a U.S.-Taiwan Combined Planning Group to build a stronger relationship between defense forces.

9. Strengthen U.S. military posture in the region by expanding bases with allies, hardening fuel depots, and enhancing logistics.

10. Expand Taiwan's military stockpiles and resiliency to attack.