Three important events took place on Capitol Hill on Friday, two involving U.S.-Taiwan relations and the other involving U.S.-China trade. Members of Congress from both parties introduced bills to raise the rank of the U.S. representative in Taiwan and to help Taiwan join international organizations so that U.S. policy toward Taiwan can better reflect American values and today’s international realities.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-MA), Republicans in the U.S. Senate, introduced the Taiwan Relations Enhancement Act bill. This bill, introduced for the second Time, aims to make U.S. policy toward Taiwan better reflect American values and today’s realities. The bipartisan bill seeks to strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations by establishing an inter-ministerial Taiwan Policy Working Group, raising the rank of U.S. representative to Taiwan to a level that requires Senate confirmation, establishing a U.S.-Taiwan Cultural Exchange Foundation, promoting Taiwan’s membership in international organizations, developing ways to protect U.S. businesses and NGOs from Chinese government coercion, and responding to China’s power operation actions.
Rubio said that in the wake of the viral pandemic, Beijing spared no effort to isolate and exclude Taiwan and blocked Taiwan’s membership in the World health Organization. Still, Taiwan has shown the world that it can respond to global health crises in an effective and transparent manner without resorting to large-scale embargo measures. We must resist the vicious campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to weaken Taiwan’s democratic vitality,” Rubio said.
In a second action involving Taiwan, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in support of their efforts to establish the agency’s pre-screening agency in Taiwan. The establishment of a preclearance agency would facilitate eligible travelers between the United States and Taiwan and deepen bilateral ties.
The pre-clearance process would prevent ineligible people from boarding and allow eligible people to avoid waiting in long lines upon flight arrival. Airlines could also park pre-screened flights at more gates at the airport. The proposal was joined by Rubio, Cornyn (R-Texas), Romney (R-Texas) and nine other members of the House and Senate from both parties.
Another bill introduced by lawmakers is the Fair Trade with China Implementation Act legislative bill, which aims to protect U.S. assets from China, oppose China’s control of U.S. assets, and curb China’s economic aggression.
The bill is sponsored by Republican Senators Rubio and Josh Hawley (D-CA). Rubio previously introduced the bill in May 2018.
Rubio said, “China’s Communist Party continues to take offensive actions that weaken our economy and hurt American workers. It is more important now, than ever before, that we repel Beijing’s malicious actions that undermine America’s economic security and national security.”
Rubio emphasized that “how we respond to the growing challenge posed by the Chinese Communist Party is the single most important geopolitical issue of our time, and it will shape the 21st century.”
The Fair Trade with China Implementation Act bill includes measures that.
-Prohibit the sale of sensitive technologies and intellectual property to China related to national security.
-raising income taxes on multinational corporations in China at a rate commensurate with the value of the stolen intellectual property and technology
-revoke the Income Tax Treaty signed in the 1980s to tax Chinese investments in the United States, including Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds
-prepare to impose tariffs on goods produced by U.S. companies covered by the Made in China 2025 program and to cap the share of Chinese investors holding U.S. companies
-Prohibiting the federal government and affiliated agencies and contractors from procuring telecommunications equipment and services from Chinese companies huawei and ZTE.
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