US lawmakers on Friday introduced the “Taiwan Diplomatic Review Act” to rename Taiwan’s representative office in the US and issue Taiwanese diplomats diplomatic visas to bolster ties between Taipei and Washington.
US representatives Brad Sherman, a Democrat, and Steve Chabot, a Republican, jointly proposed the act, and were joined by US representatives Gerry Connolly, Mario Diaz-Balart, Albio Sires and Ken Buck in introducing it.
In a statement, Sherman and Chabot said that it is US policy to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan,” not “Taipei” or “Chinese Taipei,” which is why in 2019 the Coordination Council for North American Affairs was renamed the Taiwan Council for US Affairs.
The council is the counterpart to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto US embassy in Taiwan.
“Following this longstanding policy, the Taiwan Diplomatic Review Act directs the Secretary of State to enter into negotiations with the Taiwan Council for US Affairs to rename the council’s office in Washington, DC, the Taiwan Representative Office in the United States,” the congressmen said in the statement, referring to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO).
“Taiwan is an important democratic ally of the United States. Yet, it would be surprising for most Americans to know that Taiwan’s office in Washington still includes ‘Taipei’ in its name,” Sherman said.
“This bill simply says that it is time for the State Department, and Congress, to take action to elevate our relationship with Taiwan. We should also be taking action to encourage more robust engagement between US and Taiwanese officials,” he added.
The Taiwan Diplomatic Review Act also includes the Taiwan Envoy Act, which Sherman and Chabot introduced in 2019 to require that the US Senate confirm AIT directors.
“By changing TECRO’s name to the Taiwan Representative Office and making the director of the AIT Senate confirmable, we will reaffirm the US commitment to robust relations with Taiwan,” Sherman said.
The US does not issue diplomatic visas to Taiwanese officials and diplomats, who instead receive investor visas, a practice that does not accurately represent their role in the US as official representatives of Taiwan, the statement said.
The Taiwan Diplomatic Review Act would create a new visa category for Taiwanese officials in the US, which would pave the way for closer ties between US and Taiwanese officials, the statement said.
The act would “ensure that Taiwan’s representatives here are accorded the dignity they deserve” and “strengthen congressional oversight over Taiwan policy.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday in a statement thanked the US representatives for working across party lines to adopt various measures friendly to Taiwan.
The ministry would watch the bill’s development and maintain close contact with its friends in the US Congress as well as the US administration, to steadily improve bilateral relations, it added.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS