II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3090 

To address the participation of Taiwan in the Inter-American Development 

Bank. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 27, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. KAINE, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To address the participation of Taiwan in the Inter-American 

Development Bank. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The Inter-American Development Bank (re6 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘IDB’’) was established 

7 in 1959 and— 

8 (A) is the premier multilateral development 

9 bank in the Western Hemisphere; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3090 IS

1 (B) is the largest source of development fi2 nancing for Latin America and the Caribbean; 

3 and 

4 (C) issued more than $140,000,000,000 in 

5 loans and grants between 2011 and 2021. 

6 (2) The IDB— 

7 (A) has 48 member states, of which 26 are 

8 borrowing members in the Latin America and 

9 the Caribbean region; and 

10 (B) constitutes a critical forum for fos11 tering collective action and meeting shared re12 gional challenges, including COVID–19 recovery 

13 and response. 

14 (3) Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Peo15 ple’s Republic of China are among the 22 non-bor16 rowing, non-Western Hemisphere members of the 

17 IDB. 

18 (4) Taiwan— 

19 (A) has been an observer at the IDB since 

20 1991; 

21 (B) has contributed to a specialized finan22 cial intermediary development fund at IDB Lab 

23 since 2006; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3090 IS

1 (C) has been a non-regional member coun2 try of the Central American Bank for Economic 

3 Integration since 1992; 

4 (D) is a member of the Asian Development 

5 Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Asia6 Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Inter7 national Chamber of Commerce; and 

8 (E) is a participant of the Organisation for 

9 Economic Co-operation and Development’s 

10 Competition Committee, its Steel Committee, 

11 and its Fisheries Committee. 

12 (5) Taiwan’s economy is the 7th largest in Asia 

13 and the 20th largest in the world by purchasing 

14 power parity. 

15 (6) Taiwan has been a model contributor of for16 eign aid in Latin America and the Caribbean, allo17 cating between 30 percent and 50 percent of its for18 eign aid budget to Latin America and the Carib19 bean. 

20 (7) Since 2010, Taiwan’s International Co21 operation and Development Fund has funded 95 

22 projects in Central America, 64 projects in the Car23 ibbean, and 21 projects in South America. 

24 (8) Taiwan has been a firm supporter of Haiti 

25 as it confronts multiple simultaneous crises— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3090 IS

1 (A) by providing more than $145,000,000 

2 in financing to modernize Haiti’s electrical grid; 

3 (B) by delivering 280,000 masks at the 

4 height of the COVID–19 pandemic; and 

5 (C) by pledging $500,000 in disaster relief 

6 immediately after the August 14, 2021, earth7 quake in Haiti. 

8 (9) According to data from the Pan American 

9 Development Foundation, communities receiving as10 sistance from Taiwan display increased— 

11 (A) food security; 

12 (B) income generation; and 

13 (C) capacity to recover from natural disas14 ters. 

15 (10) Taiwan has placed special emphasis on 

16 fostering development in Central America and in the 

17 Caribbean, including by signing the Agreement on 

18 the Republic of China (Taiwan)—Central America 

19 Economic Development Fund in 1998. 

20 (11) Through its non-regional partner status at 

21 the Central American Bank for Economic Integra22 tion, Taiwan has provided $266,700,000 in financial 

23 assistance to help Central American countries re24 spond to the COVID–19 pandemic. On April 22, 

25 2021, the Central American Bank for Economic InVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Oct 28, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3090.IS S3090

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3090 IS

1 tegration announced the opening of its Representa2 tive Office in Taiwan, deepening investment ties be3 tween Taiwan and Central America. 

4 (12) Taiwan maintains diplomatic relations 

5 with 9 countries in Latin America and the Carib6 bean and 8 representative offices in 7 other coun7 tries in the region. 

8 (13) Since 2016, the Government of the Peo9 ple’s Republic of China has engaged in aggressive 

10 economic diplomacy to compel the withdrawal of dip11 lomatic recognition for Taiwan, most notably in 

12 Panama, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador, 

13 all of which have terminated longstanding and pro14 ductive diplomatic relationships with Taiwan and 

15 granted diplomatic recognition to the People’s Re16 public of China. 

17 (14) The Government of the People’s Republic 

18 of China— 

19 (A) announced a $1,100,000,000 construc20 tion project in Panama on the day that Panama 

21 switched its recognition from Taiwan to the 

22 People’s Republic of China; and 

23 (B) similarly offered assistance packages 

24 to the Dominican Republic and El Salvador in 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 3090 IS

1 2018 in exchange for these countries ceasing 

2 their diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. 

3 (15) Taiwan’s international engagement has 

4 faced increased resistance from the Government of 

5 the People’s Republic of China, which has used its 

6 influence to deny Taiwan’s invitations to multilateral 

7 fora. For example, Taiwan was not invited to the 

8 2016 Assembly of the International Civil Aviation 

9 Organization (ICAO), despite participating as a 

10 guest at ICAO’s 2013 summit. Taiwan’s requests to 

11 participate in the General Assembly of the Inter12 national Criminal Police Organization (commonly 

13 known as ‘‘INTERPOL’’) were also rejected. 

14 (16) Taiwan’s inclusion in multilateral organi15 zations, such as the IDB, advances peace and sta16 bility in the world and in the Western Hemisphere 

17 specifically. 

18 (17) Congress has demonstrated a longstanding 

19 policy of supporting Taiwan’s participation in inter20 national bodies that address shared transnational 

21 challenges by— 

22 (A) authorizing the Secretary of State, in 

23 Public Law 106–137, Public Law 107–10, and 

24 Public Law 108–235, to initiate a United 

25 States plan for supporting Taiwan’s participaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 Oct 28, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3090.IS S3090

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 3090 IS

1 tion as an observer in the activities of the 

2 World Health Organization; 

3 (B) directing the Secretary of State, in 

4 Public Law 113–17, to report on a strategy to 

5 obtain observer status for Taiwan at the Inter6 national Civil Aviation Organization Assembly; 

7 and 

8 (C) directing the Secretary of State, in 

9 Public Law 114–139, to develop a strategy to 

10 obtain observer status for Taiwan at the 

11 INTERPOL Assembly. 

12 (18) Despite these efforts, Taiwan has not re13 ceived an invitation to attend as an observer any of 

14 the events of the international organizations referred 

15 to in paragraph (17) since 2016. 

16 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that— 

18 (1) the United States fully supports Taiwan’s 

19 participation in, and contribution to, international 

20 organizations and underscores the importance of the 

21 relationship between Taiwan and the United States; 

22 (2) diversifying the Inter-American Develop23 ment Bank’s donor base and increasing ally engage24 ment in the Western Hemisphere reinforces United 

25 States national interests; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 3090 IS

1 (3) Taiwan’s significant contribution to the de2 velopment and economies of Latin America and the 

3 Caribbean demonstrate that Taiwan’s membership 

4 in the IDB as a non-borrowing member would ben5 efit the IDB and the entire Latin American and 

6 Caribbean region; and 

7 (4) non-borrowing membership in the IDB 

8 would allow Taiwan to substantially leverage and 

9 channel the immense resources Taiwan already pro10 vides to Latin America and the Caribbean to reach 

11 a larger number of beneficiaries. 

12 SEC. 3. PLAN FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE 

13 INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK. 

14 The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Sec15 retary of the Treasury, is authorized— 

16 (1) to initiate a United States plan to endorse 

17 non-borrowing IDB membership for Taiwan; and 

18 (2) to instruct the United States Governor of 

19 the IDB to work with the IDB Board of Governors 

20 to admit Taiwan as a non-borrowing member of the 

21 IDB. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 3090 IS

1 SEC. 4. REPORT CONCERNING MEMBER STATE STATUS FOR 

2 TAIWAN AT THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOP3 MENT BANK. 

4 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, and not later than April 1 of each year 

6 thereafter, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the 

7 Secretary of the Treasury, shall submit an unclassified re8 port to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 

9 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 

10 Representatives that— 

11 (1) describes the United States plan to endorse 

12 and obtain non-borrowing membership status for 

13 Taiwan at the IDB; 

14 (2) includes an account of the efforts that the 

15 Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury 

16 have made to encourage IDB member states to pro17 mote Taiwan’s bid to obtain non-borrowing member18 ship at the IDB; and 

19 (3) identifies the steps that the Secretary of 

20 State and the Secretary of the Treasury will take to 

21 endorse and obtain non-borrowing membership sta22 tus for Taiwan at the IDB in the following year. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS