Legislation Challenging One China Principle Introduced in House

On March 21, 2019, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) introduced resolution H.Res.248 concluding that it is the sense of Congress that the United States Should Challenge the People’s Republic of China’s One China Principle Campaign by Adopting the Following Policy Statements—

(1). The United States recognizes the objective reality that the Taiwan government legitimately represents a democracy of 23.5 million people.

(2). The United States will ensure any resolution of the future of Taiwan be done peacefully and with the active assent of the people of Taiwan.

(3). The United States encourages both sides of the Taiwan Strait to carry out constructive dialogue without preconditions.

This resolution was introduced in light of the growing dominance of the One China Principle. The People’s Republic of China has not only been imposing the One China Principle as a precondition to peaceful cross-Strait exchanges, but also forcing the international community to refer to Taiwan as a “Province of China,” a position that the United States does not recognize and should have forcefully challenged.

Meanwhile, the U.S. One China Policy fails to recognize the legitimacy of Taiwan’s democracy. This includes referring to the democratically-elected government as “Taiwan Authorities.” To counter the One China Principle that actively delegitimizes the democracy of Taiwan, the U.S. should instead embrace the objective reality that the Taiwan government legitimately represents a democracy of 23.5 million people.

These questions were noted earlier in Rep. Chabot’s Washington Examiner article dated January 11th. Rep. Chabot wrote that China strongman Xi Jinping’s “fixation with reunification relies on the One China Principle, through which the Chinese Communist Party lays claim to Taiwan. This principle underpins Xi’s hyperbolic assertions that… no one and no force can change the fact that Taiwan is part of China, and the historical and legal fact that both sides of the strait belong to one China.” Rep. Chabot argued that “Xi needs to let go of this way of thinking.”

Rep. Chabot’s article concluded: “What it comes down to is that Taiwan’s future ought to be determined by its citizens — not by President Xi and his Communist cronies.”

FAPA President Mike Kuo states: “Both the U.S. “One China Policy” and China’s One China Principle have been thorns in the side of the people of Taiwan and of Taiwanese Americans. China’s One China Principle in particular is a bizarre and irrational fiction. After all, the People’s Republic of China has not had any effective control over Taiwan since the PRC was established in 1949. China’s ever-growing One China Principle campaign also poses threats to U.S. global leadership. The time is now for the U.S. Government to proactively challenge that One China Principle and rethink support for the U.S. “One China Policy.”

2019年3月21日，俄州共和黨眾議員夏波提出一項決議案，表示國會認為美國政府應藉由採用以下政策說帖挑戰中國一中原則：

(1). 美國承認台灣政府正當地代表一個2350萬人民民主政體的客觀事實。
(2). 美國確保台灣的未來會在台灣人民的主動同意下和平解決。
(3). 美國鼓勵台海兩岸以不設前提的方式進行建設性對話。

這份決議案在一中原則影響力逐漸突出之時提出。中國不僅將一中原則設為兩岸和平交流的前提，更迫使國際社會把台灣稱為中國一省。僅管美國從不承認該立場，但多年來缺乏強硬挑戰的舉措。

同時，美國的一中政策並沒有承認台灣民主及其民選政府的正當性。為了反擊削弱台灣民主正當性的一中原則，美國政府應擁抱台灣政府正當地代表2350萬人民民主政體的客觀事實。

這些問題已在夏波議員1月11日華盛頓觀察家的投書中被提及。夏波議員寫道「習近平對統一的執著建立在一中原則之上。這個原則替習近平不切實際的主張鋪路，包含『台灣是中國一部分、兩岸同屬一個中國的歷史和法理事實，是任何人任何勢力都無法改變的』。」夏波對此表示「習近平應該放棄這樣的想法。」

在該篇投書中，夏波議員總結：「台灣的未來應該由其人民決定，而非習近平以及他的共產黨黨羽。」

FAPA會長郭正光表示：「美國的一中政策以及中國的一中原則多年來都是台灣人以及台美人背上的刺。其中，中國的一中原則是不理性、不可理喻的宣稱。畢竟，中共自1949年創立以來從來都沒有效控制過台灣。同時，一中原則日漸擴張的影響力也威脅著美國的全球影響力。現在正是美國政府積極挑戰一中原則並重新思考一中政策的時候了。」