(1) Relations between the United States and 
Taiwan are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act 
(22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.; Public Law 96–8), three 
joint communiques, and the Six Assurances. 
(2) The Taiwan Relations Act has governed 
United States arms sales to Taiwan since 1979, 
when the United States extended diplomatic recogni-
tion to the People’s Republic of China. 
(3) The Taiwan Relations Act specifies that it 
is United States policy, among other things, to con-
sider any nonpeaceful means to determine Taiwan’s 
future ‘‘a threat’’ to the peace and security of the 
Western Pacific and of ‘‘grave concern’’ to the 
United States, ‘‘to provide Taiwan with arms of a 
defensive character’’, and ‘‘to maintain the capacity 
of the United States to resist any resort to force or 
other forms of coercion’’ jeopardizing the security or 
social or economic system of Taiwan’s people. 
(4) Section 3(a) of the Taiwan Relations Act 
states that ‘‘the United States will make available to 
Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in 
such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan 
to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability’’. 
(5) Section 3(b) of the Taiwan Relations Act 
stipulates that both the President and the Congress 
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shall determine the nature and quantity of such de-
fense articles and services ‘‘based solely’’ upon their 
judgment of the needs of Taiwan. 
(6) Taiwan has recently reversed a downward 
trend in defense spending with a $2.2 billion in-
crease in 2007 to $9.8 billion and the Defense Min-
istry has requested and the Executive Yuan ap-
proved a 2008 budget of $10.6 billion, an increase 
of 15 percent. 
(7) According to the Congressional Research 
Service, the executive branch has yet to send any 
arms transfer notifications to Congress during cal-
endar year 2008, including notifications on at least 
seven pending arms sales programs with a total 
value of about $11 billion that encompass programs 
on a submarine design, Patriot PAC–3 missile de-
fense systems, and Apache and Blackhawk heli-
copters. 
(8) Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou stated 
on July 12, 2008, that the island needs to secure de-
fensive weapons from the United States, despite a 
warming of relations with mainland China. 
(9) On July 16, 2008, Admiral Timothy 
Keating, Commander of the Hawaii-based United 
States Pacific Command, acknowledged that the ex-
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ecutive branch had imposed a ‘‘freeze’’ on arms sales 
to Taiwan, a decision that is in contradiction to 
longstanding United States law and policy. 
SEC. 2. MANDATORY CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS. 
(a) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, and not later than 120 days 
thereafter, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Defense, shall provide detailed briefings to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
the Senate on— 
(1) any discussions conducted between any ex-
ecutive branch agency and the Government of Tai-
wan during the covered period; and 
(2) any potential transfer of defense articles or 
defense services to the Government of Taiwan. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe-
riod’’ means— 
(A) with respect to the initial briefings re-
quired under subsection (a), the period begin-
ning on the date of the enactment of this Act 
and ending on the date of the initial briefings; 
and 
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(B) with respect to the subsequent brief-
ings required under subsection (a), the period 
beginning on the day after the date of the ini-
tial briefings required under subsection (a) and 
ending on the date of the subsequent briefings. 
(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 ar-
ticle’’ has the meaning given the term in section 47 
of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794 
note). 
(4) DEFENSE
SERVICE.—The term ‘‘defense 
service’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
47 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2794 
note). 
Æ 
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