Pentagon Ordered to Better Track Threats to Taiwan

Several members of Congress have added language to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act aimed at better preparing the Pentagon to assess and confront Chinese military expansion and its implications for potential threats to Taiwan.

The language, incorporated into the House Armed Services Committee’s passed version of the defense bill, asks the Defense Department to better assess anti-access/area-denial threats in the Asia-Pacific region, submit a report on the cross-strait balance of forces between China and Taiwan, and better estimate China’s fast-growing Naval military power.

Proposed by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Virginia, chairman of the HASC Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, the new language asks the Pentagon to add additional detail regarding Chinese Naval capability to its annual report to Congress on Chinese military capability.

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