Taiwan Fellowship Act
If passed, the Taiwan Fellowship Act would allow 10 U.S. federal government employees each year to work with their Taiwanese counterparts in Taiwan government offices most relevant to their home agencies and receive Mandarin language training for two years. As US-Taiwan high-level exchanges are rather limited, we consider working-level exchanges that this Act seeks to achieve extremely conducive to enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries.
Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act
The Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act seeks to reverse U.S. long-held strategic ambiguity towards the defense to Taiwan: “The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as the President determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to secure and protect Taiwan against armed attack.” This Act also proposes several concrete policy initiatives that are critical to the bilateral defense cooperation, such as establishing regional security dialogues and carrying out bilateral or multilateral military exercises with Taiwan.
Taiwan Envoy Act
Senate Confirmation of AIT Director
The AIT Director, the U.S. de facto Ambassador to Taiwan, is appointed by the Secretary of State without checks and balances by the Congress. Taiwanese Americans would like to see the AIT Director confirmed by the Senate, which has the right to oversee US-Taiwan relations through such a confirmation process.
Taiwan Assurance Act
The bipartisan Taiwan Assurance Act seeks to deepen US-Taiwan relations by supporting the following policy initiatives:
- Include Taiwanese forces in bilateral and multilateral military exercises.
- Review the Department of States’ “Guidelines on Relations with Taiwan” with the intent to expand US-Taiwan relations.
- USTR should resume meetings with Taiwan for a bilateral free trade agreement.