Relations Could Be Further Strained As Senate Considers Taiwan Bill

14:30 ET 19:30 BST: Beijing and the White House will be watching closely as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a closed preliminary hearing on the Taiwan Policy Act 2022.

• The proposed legislation would more formally recognise the diplomatic relationship between the US and Taiwan and caused concern in the White House during the heightened tensions between the US and China which followed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Congressional delegation to Taiwan. It is likely that the White House applied some pressure on the committee to dial down some of the more hawkish language of the original text.
• Danielle Booth of Quill Intelligence: "The Taiwan Policy Act would give Taipei $4.5B for defense over 4 years, recognize democratically elected government as “legitimate representative of people of Taiwan” & formally designate island as “major non-NATO ally.”
• China Daily wrote in an editorial: "Given Taiwan is an unalienable part of China, which is affirmed by international law, the US' Taiwan Policy Act of 2022, if passed, would dampen any hope of improvement in bilateral ties."