As China continues its pressure on Taiwan, two Republican U.S. Representatives have reintroduced a resolution introduced in the previous Congress calling on the Biden administration to abandon its antiquated “one-China Policy” and restore full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations, and initiate trade agreements with Taiwan. Negotiations.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) introduced a joint resolution on Friday calling on the Biden Administration to restore full diplomatic relations with Taiwan and “end the outdated and counterproductive One China Policy.”
The resolution also calls on the Biden administration to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to begin negotiations with Taipei on a proposed U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement.
Tifani introduced a similar resolution in the previous Congress last September calling for the end of the “One China Policy” and the restoration of formal relations with Taiwan, but there was no follow-up to the resolution at the end of the last Congress, and now Tifani is reintroducing the bill in the new Congress.
In a statement released Monday (March 1), Tifani said, “For more than 40 years U.S. presidents of both parties have repeated Beijing‘s false lie that Taiwan is part of Communist China, even when the objective reality is otherwise.” He said, “It’s Time we abandoned this outdated policy.”
Perry noted, “As an independent nation and collaborating with Taiwan on a wide range of issues, the United States should have exercised our sovereign right to state what the world has long known to be true: Taiwan is an independent nation and has been for more than 70 years.”
The statement said the United States maintained normal diplomatic relations with the Taiwanese government until 1979, when President Carter abruptly severed formal relations with Taipei in favor of recognizing the Communist regime in Beijing, and members of Congress responded by approving the nonpartisan Taiwan Relations Act, which became the cornerstone of America’s continuing relationship with Taiwan. President Reagan escalated the relationship during his presidency with the “Six Assurances,” “indicating that the United States does not recognize Communist China’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan.”
But despite the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances, the statement said, the United States still has no formal relationship with Taiwan and “incomprehensibly treats Taiwan’s democratically elected government as it does brutal regimes such as North Korea and Iran, and even worse than the Cuban dictatorship in terms of categorization, while President Obama and Vice President Biden Vice President recognized Cuba in their second terms.”
The statement also mentioned that Tifani had introduced an amendment to the defense spending law last year that would have undone the ineffective and self-imposed restrictions on U.S.-Taiwan official exchanges. Although House Democrats refused to allow that amendment to come to a vote at the time, Secretary of State Pompeo subsequently implemented the policy, repealing the so-called “guidance” and promoting greater communication and coordination between Taipei and Washington, and now “it is unclear whether the Biden administration will withdraw these changes under pressure from Beijing. these changes.”
Tiffani said, “The United States does not need the approval slips of the Chinese Communist Party to talk to its friends and partners around the world.” He said, “Taiwan is a free, democratic and independent nation, and it’s time for U.S. policy to reflect that fact.”
The bicameral concurrent resolution number 21 (H. Con. Res. 21), which is intended to express congressional views, requires only a vote by both houses and is not binding on the administration.
The resolution states that Communist China “has weaponized the so-called ‘One China Policy’ to prevent Taiwan’s membership and official participation in international organizations, from the United Nations to the World health Organization to international Olympic competitions. “The so-called ‘One China Policy’ is outdated, does not serve the people of Taiwan or the United States, and does not reflect the obvious reality that Taiwan has been a sovereign and independent nation for more than 70 years.”
In addition, the resolution says that President Trump has approved arms sales to Taiwan and signed cross-party legislation to expand exchanges and cooperation between top U.S. and Taiwanese officials, and that Taiwan remains a staunch U.S. ally and a responsible and conscientious member of the international community.
For these reasons, the resolution of Congress affirms that the United States applauds the commitment of the people of Taiwan to democracy, civil liberties, and human rights, and therefore the views of Congress, with the concurrence of the Senate, are as follows.
1) The President should abandon the archaic “One China Policy” and adopt a policy that recognizes the objective reality of Taiwan as an independent nation, not subject to Chinese governance or contained within the territory of the People’s Republic of China.
2) The President should recognize the legitimate and democratically elected government of Taipei, normalize diplomatic relations between the two countries, assign U.S. ambassadors to Taiwan, and accept Taiwan’s assigned ambassadors to the United States.
3) The President should abolish arbitrary agency guidelines that restrict normal communication and interaction between U.S. and Taiwan officials.
4) the U.S. Trade Representative should initiate formal negotiations with Taiwan to establish a U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement.
5) The President, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and other relevant U.S. officials should take steps to initiate Taiwan’s full membership in the United Nations and other international organizations of which the United States is a member.
In his statement introducing the resolution, Tifani also said that the co-resolution was introduced on the anniversary of the February 28, 1947, “February 28 Incident” in Taiwan, in which “thousands of Taiwanese were killed by security forces in what is known as the ‘February 28 Massacre. The date is often referred to as the day that triggered Taiwan’s democracy. This date is often cited as the event that triggered Taiwan’s democratic transformation.”
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