Taiwan’s defense ministry expresses gratitude in a statement in response to the signing
Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/24
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Just before the Christmas holiday, United States President Barack Obama
FILE – In this March 27, 2008 file photo, an aerial view of the Pentagon. Sexual misconduct and harassment allegations against senior Army leaders increased this year and more were substantiated than in 2015, according to a closely held report by the Army Inspector General. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
signed the annual defense authorization act in which requires the Pentagon to facilitate military exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, following the approval by the House and Senate on December 2 and 8, respectively. It is also the first of its kind to regulate the exchanges with the island country in U.S. domestic law.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (2017 NDAA) is a year-end policy bill encompassing every aspect of the U.S. military, which contains several provisions with ‘potentially momentous consequences,’ the Los Angeles Times reported, including heightened tension or a ‘space-based arms race’ with Russia and China, thanks to a provision that demands the Pentagon to start ‘research, development, test and evaluation’ of space-based systems for missile defense.
On top of that, the act stipulated that the Pentagon shall carry out a program of exchanges of ‘senior military officers and senior officials between the U.S. and Taiwan’ designed to improve military-to-military relations between the two. [FULL STORY]
