| HCON 401 IH 106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 401
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding high-level
visits by Taiwanese officials to the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 14, 2000
Mr. GEJDENSON (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. ROHRABACHER,
Mr. LANTOS, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr.
MCNULTY, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. SOUDER, Mrs. LOWEY,
Mr. WEXLER, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. WU, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Ms. PELOSI, and Mr.
BILIRAKIS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the 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 the 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 the 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
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