[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2386 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2386

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 3, 1997

   Mr. Hunter (for himself, Mr. Cox of California, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. 
 Gilman, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. McIntosh, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
   Royce, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Solomon, and Mr. 
   Spence) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committee 
on National Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Taiwan Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Defense Cooperation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    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) Taiwan's local air-defense capability provided by the 
        United States Modified Air Defense System (MADS) is not 
        adequate for the task of defending local areas of Taiwan, 
        including the Penghu Islands, Kinmen, and Matsu, from limited 
        ballistic missile attacks or deterring 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.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY OF TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT.

    Section 3 of the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3302) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) supersede any 
provision of the Joint Communique of the United States and China of 
August 17, 1982.''.

SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT RELATING TO ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF A 
              THEATER BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM IN THE ASIA-
              PACIFIC REGION.

    (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.

SEC. 5. TRANSFER OF BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS TO TAIWAN.

    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 4, 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.

SEC. 6. STATEMENT OF POLICY RELATING TO UNITED STATES THEATER MISSILE 
              DEFENSES FOR THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION.

    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.
                                 <all>