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[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 140 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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 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 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
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) it is in the interest of Congress and the executive 
        branch of the United States to communicate directly with 
        elected and appointed top officials of Taiwan, including its 
        democratically elected president; and
            (2) the United States should end restrictions on high-level 
        visits by officials of Taiwan to the United States.
                                 <all>
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