Following in the footsteps of the US House of Representatives, a group of US senators on Thursday introduced a concurrent resolution reaffirming US commitment to Taiwan to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
The resolution was submitted by US Senator Cory Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, along with Jim Risch, James Inhofe, Robert Menendez and Ed Markey.
The resolution reaffirms that the TRA, signed into law on April 10, 1979, and the “six assurances,” issued by then-US president Ronald Reagan in 1982, “are, and will remain, cornerstones of US relations with Taiwan.”
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The US should conduct regular transfers of defensive articles to Taiwan consistent with Taiwan’s national security requirements in accordance with existing law, including the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018, the resolution states.
It also encourages US officials at all levels to travel to meet with their counterparts in Taiwan, and for high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the US and meet with US officials, in accordance with the Taiwan Travel Act.
It calls upon the US secretary of state to engage internationally in support of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, and urges the US president to explore opportunities to expand and deepen bilateral economic and trade relations with Taiwan.
Gardner said in a statement that he has for many years been committed to strengthening the relationship between the US and Taiwan, and boosting Taiwan’s role on the international stage.
He reiterated that the US would continue to speak out for Taiwan and its people, as guided by US law, including the TRA, the Taiwan Travel Act and the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act.
Markey, who was already a senator when the TRA was being drafted, said that he would continue to cooperate with his colleagues across party lines to fulfill the responsibility of bolstering relations between the people of the US and Taiwan.
Risch said that despite continued pressure from China, he looks forward to a long-standing partnership between the US and Taiwan, because the two sides have strongly shared values, and economic and security interests.
Taiwan’s representative office in the US thanked the US Congress for its support of Taiwan’s sovereignty, freedom and democracy, as well as security in the Taiwan Strait.
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