House Foreign Affairs Committee Passes Resolution, Supporting Visits By Taiwan’s President To U.S. Anytime, Anywhere

In an unprecedented move, and with unanimous consent, the House Foreign Affairs Committee today passed the H.Con.Res.136 led by Rep. Steve Chabot, calling for the lifting of all restrictions imposed on the visits by the Taiwanese highest-level government officials to the U.S, including the President. It marked the first time the House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up and passed the resolution after similar resolutions were introduced during the past two Congresses.

It is worth noting that both the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Committee Reps. Tom Lantos and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen co-sponsored the resolution, indicating the importance and the strong level of support the Committee placed on this resolution. The resolution has 33 co-sponsors.

The resolution concludes that: “restrictions on visits by high-level elected and appointed officials of Taiwan to the United States, including the democratically elected president of Taiwan, should be lifted. And the U.S. should allow direct high-level exchanges at the Cabinet level with the Government of Taiwan.”  The resolution has 33 co-sponsors.

Today’s effort to support Taiwan in the Congress follows the House passage last week of the amendment halting all government funding used to impose restrictions on exchanges between two governments. Unlike the amendment that touches upon restrictions on various exchanges between the two government, HCR 136 focuses only and mainly on the visits by the Taiwanese President and high-level government officials to the U.S.

FAPA president C.T. Lee, MD states: “The mark up of the resolution today is major landmark in the campaign to lift all restrictions on high-level visits from Taiwan and provides great encouragement to the government and the people of Taiwan in less than a week. It will lend further credence to the prevalent belief in Congress that Taiwan is a strong U.S. democratic ally and deserves to be treated as one. The time is now that the United States treats Taiwan like the fellow and friendly democracy it is.”

美眾議院外交事務委員會無異議通過決議案，歡迎台灣高層官員，包括台灣總統，隨時隨地自由訪問美國

美國眾議院外交事務委員會於今日無異議通過由夏波議員領銜的第136號決議案，呼籲廢除美國政府長期以來加諸於台灣官員訪美的眾多限制。

類似的決議案曾在前兩期的國會由夏波與布朗議員聯手提出，不過，這是外交事務委員會首次通過這項決議案，意義格外重大。此外，三十三位聯署議員中，委員會的正副主席－藍托斯與蘿斯列敦娜兩位重量級議員特地雙雙聯署此決議案，充份展現出外交委員會對這項議題的高度重視與支持。

決議案表示：「所有加諸於台灣高層官員訪美的限制，包括民選總統都應一併解除；美國應該允許部長級的台美高層政府官員直接交流。」決議案並要求美國政府確切遵守1994年生效的美國「移民與國籍技術修正法」，此法案第221條款強調台灣總統與高層官員應獲准訪開美國。此外，為了強調台美兩國最高層級雙方政府直接對話的重要性與必須性，決議案表示：「台灣海峽是全世界公認的(軍事)衝突點之一，美國政策決策者直接與台灣政府對話是必要的。」

這是美國國會繼上週眾議院通過聯邦撥款法案修正案，要求國務院解除數十年來對台灣的各項台美交流外交禁令後，再次展現對台灣的支持。有別於上週通過的撥款法案修正條款，觸及多項台美雙方互動，今天的第136號決議案專門著重在台灣高層訪美一事。

FAPA會長李青泰表示：「眾議院外交事務委員會今日通過第136號議案，對解除台灣高層訪美限制有著突破性的進展，也是美國國會於不到一週內，第二度給予台灣人民與政府最大的鼓勵，證明美國國會廣泛地認同台灣不僅是美國堅定的民主盟友，也該是時候給予民主的台灣應得到的尊重與肯定。」

Photo Credit: April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy (Flickr)

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16 Representatives Call For Lifting Of All Restrictions On High-Level Visits From Taiwan

In a move to show solidarity with Taiwan, 16 Representatives today jointly introduced bi-partisan resolution H.Con.Res.136 calling for the complete removal of all restrictions on visits by Taiwanese high-level officials to the United States. This issue was raised by Rep. Steve Chabot, the co-chair of the Taiwan, to Mr. Negroponte in today’s hearing on China in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The resolution concludes that: “All restrictions on visits by high-level elected and appointed officials of Taiwan to the United States, including the democratically elected president of Taiwan, should be lifted.”

The sixteen members that introduced the resolution are Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Allen Boyd (D-FL), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Sam Graves (R-MO), Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Dan Burton (R-IN), Mike McNulty (D-NY), Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY).

The resolution calls on the administration to comply with its obligations under the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 in which the President or any other high-level officials of Taiwan shall be admitted to visit the United States. In addition, the resolution notes that, “Since the Taiwan Strait is one of the flashpoints in the world, it is essential that United States policymakers directly communicate with the leaders of Taiwan”, illustrating the importance and the necessity of having direct dialogue between two governments.

FAPA president C.T. Lee, MD states: “The introduction of this resolution is significant. 16 bi-partisan Members’ co-introducing the resolution demonstrates these Members’ willingness to take concrete action and to present a unified commitment in supporting Taiwan’s democracy.”

Lee adds: “It is rather ironic for the United States to praise Taiwan for its democracy, but then turn around and impose restrictions on direct meetings between Taiwan’s elected leaders and US officials. Supporting democracy should not be a mere phrase for politicians to use whenever convenient. We are talking about American soil here. So it should be the prerogative of the United States to decide who can visit the Nation’s Capital, not the prerogative of the communist leaders in Beijing.”

16位眾議員聯合提出決議案，支持台灣總統等高層官員自由訪美

為了展現對台灣民主的一致支持，16位美國聯邦眾議員於今日聯合提出第136號決議案，建議美國政府全面取消對台灣高層官員，包括台灣民選總統在內各種訪問美國的種種不合理限制。台灣連線主席眾議員夏波(Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH)也特地在今日眾議院外交事務委員會的中國聽證會上表達對這個議題的看法。

這16位聯署的議員分別為：Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Allen Boyd (D-FL), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Sam Graves (R-MO), Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Dan Burton (R-IN), Mike McNulty (D-NY), Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY).

136號決議案表示：「所有加諸於台灣高層官員訪美的限制，包括民選總統都應一併解除。」決議案並要求美國政府確切遵守1994年生效的美國「移民與國籍技術修正法」，此法案第221條款強調台灣總統與高層官員應獲准訪開美國。此外，為了強調台美兩國最高層級雙方政府直接對話的重要性與必須性，決議案表示：「台灣海峽是全世界公認的(軍事)衝突點之一，美國政策決策者直接與台灣政府對話是必要的。」

FAPA會長李青泰指出：「今天這16個議員聯合提出支持台灣的決議案，可謂意義相當重大。這16位横跨民主、共和兩黨的議員，以實際行動展現他們一致對台灣民主的支持。」

李青泰接著表示：「美國一方面讚揚台灣的民主進展，一方面卻就台灣高層官員訪美做諸多限制，似乎相當諷刺與矛盾。支持台灣不應只是一句供政客方便使用的口號。這是美國的土地，應該由美國自己決定誰能夠參訪美國，而不是北京的共產政權。」

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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