That the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, which has controversial provisions on Taiwan, suggests the Donald Trump administration is eager to leave its mark on Washington's policy toward Taiwan.

As one among a series of measures taken by the Trump administration, the bill passed on July 14 contains provisions about "re-establishing" regular ports of call for the United States Navy at Kaohsiung or any other suitable port in Taiwan, and permitting the US Pacific Command to receive Taiwan vessels. It also gives the green light to more US "defense cooperation" with Taiwan and "normalizing" US weapons sales to the island.

For obvious reasons, China has strongly opposed the bill, seeing it as a serious interference in its internal affairs and a blatant violation of the one-China policy and the three joint communiqu??s that guide Sino-US relations.