116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 249 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to 

regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health 

Organization, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

†S 249 ES

1 SECTION 1. PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD 

2 HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find4 ings: 

5 (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) is 

6 a specialized agency of the United Nations, charged 

7 with coordinating health efforts within the United 

8 Nations system. The World Health Assembly 

9 (WHA) is the decision-making body of the WHO, 

10 which convenes annually in May to set the policies 

11 and priorities of the organization. Statehood is not 

12 a requirement for attendance at the WHA, and nu13 merous observers, including non-members and non14 governmental organizations, attended the most re15 cent WHA in May 2018. 

16 (2) Taiwan began seeking to participate in the 

17 WHO as an observer in 1997. In 2009, with strong 

18 support from successive United States Administra19 tions, Congress, and like-minded WHO Member 

20 States, and during a period of improved Cross-Strait 

21 relations, Taiwan received an invitation to attend 

22 the WHA as an observer under the name ‘‘Chinese 

23 Taipei’’. Taiwan received the same invitation each 

24 year until 2016, when following the election of Presi25 dent Tsai-Ing Wen of the Democratic Progressive 

26 Party, Taiwan’s engagement in the international 
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1 community began facing increased resistance from 

2 the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan’s in3 vitation to the 2016 WHA was received late and in4 cluded new language conditioning Taiwan’s partici5 pation on the PRC’s ‘‘one China principle’’. In 2017 

6 and 2018, Taiwan did not receive an invitation to 

7 the WHA. 

8 (3) Taiwan remains a model contributor to 

9 world health, having provided financial and technical 

10 assistance to respond to numerous global health 

11 challenges. Taiwan has invested over 

12 $6,000,000,000 in international medical and human13 itarian aid efforts impacting over 80 countries since 

14 1996. In 2014, Taiwan responded to the Ebola crisis 

15 by donating $1,000,000 and providing 100,000 sets 

16 of personal protective equipment. Through the Glob17 al Cooperation and Training Framework, the United 

18 States and Taiwan have jointly conducted training 

19 programs for experts to combat MERS, Dengue 

20 Fever, and Zika. These diseases know no borders, 

21 and Taiwan’s needless exclusion from global health 

22 cooperation increases the dangers presented by glob23 al pandemics. 

24 (4) Taiwan’s international engagement has 

25 faced increased resistance from the PRC. Taiwan 
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1 was not invited to the 2016 Assembly of the Inter2 national Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), despite 

3 participating as a guest at the organization’s prior 

4 summit in 2013. Taiwan’s requests to participate in 

5 the General Assembly of the International Criminal 

6 Police Organization (INTERPOL) have also been 

7 rejected. In May 2017, PRC delegates disrupted a 

8 meeting of the Kimberley Process on conflict dia9 monds held in Perth, Australia, until delegates from 

10 Taiwan were asked to leave. Since 2016, the Demo11 cratic Republic of Sa ̃o Tome ́ and Prı ́ncipe, the Re12 public of Panama, the Solomon Islands, the Republic 

13 of Kiribati, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, 

14 and the Republic of El Salvador have terminated 

15 longstanding diplomatic relationships with Taiwan 

16 and granted diplomatic recognition to the PRC. 

17 (5) Congress has established a policy of support 

18 for Taiwan’s participation in international bodies 

19 that address shared transnational challenges, par20 ticularly in the WHO. Congress passed H.R. 1794 

21 in the 106th Congress, H.R. 428 in the 107th Con22 gress, and S. 2092 in the 108th Congress to direct 

23 the Secretary of State to establish a strategy for, 

24 and to report annually to Congress on, efforts to ob25 tain observer status for Taiwan at the WHA. Con-
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1 gress also passed H.R. 1151 in the 113th Congress, 

2 directing the Secretary to report on a strategy to 

3 gain observer status for Taiwan at the ICAO Assem4 bly, and H.R. 1853 in the 114th Congress, directing 

5 the Secretary to report on a strategy to gain ob6 server status for Taiwan at the INTERPOL Assem7 bly. However, since 2016 Taiwan has not received 

8 an invitation to attend any of these events as an ob9 server. 

10 (b) AUGMENTATION OF REPORT CONCERNING THE

11 PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD HEALTH OR12 GANIZATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 1 

14 of Public Law 108–235 (118 Stat. 656) is amended 

15 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(3) An account of the changes and improve17 ments the Secretary of State has made to the 

18 United States plan to endorse and obtain observer 

19 status for Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, 

20 following any annual meetings of the World Health 

21 Assembly at which Taiwan did not obtain observer 

22 status.’’. 

23 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

24 by paragraph (1) shall take effect and apply begin25 ning with the first report required under subsection 
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1 (c) of section 1 of Public Law 108–235 that is sub2 mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 2. BRIEFING ON UNITED STATES STRATEGY REGARD4 ING TAIWAN’S INTERNATIONAL RECOGNI5 TION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 

8 thereafter for three years, the Secretary of State, or the 

9 Secretary’s designee, shall provide to the appropriate con10 gressional committees a briefing on actions taken by the 

11 United States to reaffirm and strengthen Taiwan’s official 

12 and unofficial diplomatic relationships. 

13 (b) ELEMENTS.—The briefing required by subsection 

14 (a) shall include the following elements: 

15 (1) A description of the actions taken by the 

16 United States commencing May 20, 2016, to consult 

17 with governments around the world, including the 

18 governments that maintain official diplomatic rela19 tions with Taiwan, with the purpose of inducing 

20 those governments to maintain official diplomatic re21 lations with Taiwan or otherwise strengthen unoffi22 cial relations with Taiwan. 

23 (2) An enumeration of specific countries of con24 cern, if any, and a description of the actions taken, 

25 or actions anticipated, by those governments, com-
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1 mencing May 20, 2016, to alter the formal diplo2 matic ties with Taiwan or to otherwise downgrade 

3 official or unofficial relations. 

4 (3) A plan of action to engage with the govern5 ments of the countries identified in paragraphs (1) 

6 and (2) and increase cooperation with respect to 

7 Taiwan. 

8 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

9 In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 

11 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

12 Senate; and 

13 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

14 House of Representatives. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 

16 THE ASIA REASSURANCE INITIATIVE ACT. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that the full and timely 

18 implementation of section 209 of the Asia Reassurance 

19 Initiative Act (Public Law 115–409), which reiterates 
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1 longstanding bipartisan United States policy, is critical to 

2 demonstrate United States support for Taiwan. 

Passed the Senate May 11, 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 249 

AN ACT 

To direct the Secretary of State to develop a stratposes. World Health Organization, and for other pur- egy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the