The bill on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, officially called the Reassurance On Commitments Act of 2021, was introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and co-sponsored by a number of heavyweight Republican senators, including Rubio, Hawley, Cotton, Scott, Cornyn, Sasse, Blackburn and Braun. The bill, officially called the Reassurance On Commitments Act of 2021, was co-sponsored by several heavyweight Republican senators, including Rubio, Hawley, Cotton, Scott, Cornyn, Sasse, Blackburn and Braun. The picture shows the schematic photo.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz introduced the “ROC Act” on March 24, a reassurance law on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts that would require the United States to give the Republic of China government proper treatment and prohibit the Biden administration from reverting to various policy guidelines that restricted contacts with Taiwan officials during the Obama administration in 2015.
The bill on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, formally known as the Reassurance On Commitments Act of 2021, was introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and received a vote of confidence from the Senate. The bill, formally known as the Reassurance On Commitments Act of 2021, was introduced by a number of members, including Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, Richard Scott, John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, Marsha Blackburn, and Michael K. Braun. Michael K. Braun (R-Texas) and a number of other heavyweight Republican senators have signed on.
A statement released by Cruz’s office said the ROC Act would prohibit the Biden Administration from reinstating the 2015 Obama administration policy guidance that prohibited ROC military personnel and diplomats from displaying the Taiwan flag. “Senator Cruz succeeded last year in getting the Trump (Trump) administration to overturn the 2015 guidance, including the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty Act (TOS Act) that introduced the requirement to make this change.”
In the statement, Cruz said, “The Chinese Communist Party continues to use censorship and propaganda to isolate and control the narrative about Taiwan. The United States should never take orders from a communist regime, and the Biden administration should not overturn the important progress the Trump Administration has made in growing Taiwan as an ally. Maintaining these norms is critical, especially as the Chinese Communist Party continues to increase its hostility toward this country.”
Before the Trump administration left office on January 20, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on January 9 that he was rescinding the State Department’s internal policy guidance on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts and lifting the “self-imposed restrictions” on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts, an announcement that sparked strong opposition and protests from the Beijing authorities. After the Biden administration took office, Blinken, then a nominee for Secretary of State, said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he would review the guidelines in light of the Taiwan Assurances Act passed late last year and hoped to create more space for U.S.-Taiwan relations.
Blinken’s response was in response to Senator Cruz’s question about whether to reinstate restrictions on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts.
Some observers believe that although Blinken did not indicate whether to continue the State Department’s internal rules on official U.S.-Taiwan contacts that were repealed by Pompeo, the Biden administration’s preference may be to “just do it and don’t say it. At a minimum, the public has seen Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Mei-Chin Hsiao, formally invited to President Biden’s inauguration and to the State Department to meet with Acting Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Pacific Sung Kim, as well as a growing number of official contacts between the United States and Taiwan outside of Washington, D.C., such as in Geneva and Tokyo.
The Reassurance Commitment Act of 2021 states that the purpose of the bill is to “give appropriate treatment to representatives of the Government of the Republic of China” and that, in addition to the original statutory provisions, “funds appropriated to the Department of State for fiscal year 2022 shall not be used to prepare, propose, draft, review, or issue any rule, guidance, or executive order, or otherwise implement, administer, or enforce any policy restricting the display of symbols of the sovereignty of the Republic of China, including the flag of the Republic of China, corresponding insignia, or rank insignia of military units, for official purposes by military personnel or representatives of the Government of the Republic of China or the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO).”
The bill states that so-called “official purposes” include wearing official uniforms, performing government-sponsored ceremonies or events, and appearing on State Department social media accounts that promote U.S.-Taiwan relations.
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