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106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 140

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding high-level visits by Taiwanese

officials to the United States.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 28 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. LOTT (for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. KYL, Mrs.

HUTCHISON, Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire, Mr. BENNETT, and Mr.

HUTCHINSON), submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding high-level visits

by Taiwanese officials to the United States.

Whereas Taiwan is the seventh largest trading partner of the

United States and plays an important role in the economy of the Asia-Pacific region;

Whereas Taiwan routinely holds free and fair elections in a

multiparty system, as evidenced most recently by Taiwan’s second democratic presidential election of March

18, 2000, in which Mr. Chen Shui-bian was elected as

president of the 23,000,000 people of Taiwan;

Whereas Members of Congress, unlike executive branch officials, have long had the freedom to meet with leaders of

governments with which the United States does not have
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•SCON 140 IS

formal relations—meetings which provide a vital opportunity to discuss issues of mutual concern that directly

affect United States national interests;

Whereas several Members of Congress expressed interest in

meeting with President Chen Shui-bian during his 16-

hour layover in Los Angeles, California, en route to Latin

America and Africa on August 13, 2000;

Whereas the meeting with President Chen did not take place

because of pressure from Washington and Beijing;

Whereas Congress thereby lost the opportunity to communicate directly with President Chen about developments

in the Asia-Pacific region and key elements of the relationship between the United States and Taiwan when he

visited Los Angeles;

Whereas there could not be a more important time to find

opportunities to talk to Taiwan’s new leaders given the

enormous economic, security, and political interests we

share with both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of

China, as well as the results of the recent election in Taiwan which provided for the first party leadership change

in Taiwan’s history;

Whereas Congress must continue to play an independent

oversight role on United States policy toward Taiwan,

and try to find ways to reduce the threat of war between

Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, and in particular, to counteract China’s buildup of missiles pointed

at Taiwan;

Whereas the United States continues to cling to its policy of

more than 20 years, which prohibits high-ranking Taiwan

leaders from making official visits to the United States,

forcing Members of Congress to choose whether to rely
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solely upon indirect assessments provided by the administration or to travel to Taiwan to obtain this information

firsthand, and denying Taiwan’s democratically elected

officials the respect they deserve;

Whereas by bestowing upon President Chen the respect his

office deserves, the United States would have demonstrated to the people of both Taiwan and the People’s

Republic of China United States support for democracy;

and

Whereas the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (Public Law 103–416) provides that

the President of Taiwan shall be welcome in the United

States at any time to discuss a host of important issues:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

3 (1) it is in the interest of Congress and the ex4 ecutive branch of the United States to communicate

5 directly with elected and appointed top officials of

6 Taiwan, including its democratically elected presi7 dent; and

8 (2) the United States should end restrictions on

9 high-level visits by officials of Taiwan to the United

10 States.

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