U.S. House of Representatives Passes Amendment to Taiwan Guarantee...

U.S. House of Representatives Passes Amendment to Taiwan Guarantee Act

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday (March 22) to amend the Taiwan Assurance Act passed in 2020. The amendment requires the Secretary of State to regularly review and update the State Department's guiding principles on relations with Taiwan.

The bill was introduced in late February by Ann Wagner, a Republican from Missouri and the vice chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and was passed without objection by the House Foreign Relations Committee. The full House of Representatives passed the bill Wednesday by an overwhelming majority of 404 to 7. All dissenting votes came from Democratic House members.

"Taiwan faces an unprecedented threat from an increasingly erratic People's Republic of China," Wagner said in a statement after her Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act passed the full House of Representatives. Forging a dangerous relationship, we cannot be swayed by fear if we want to thwart the People's Republic of China's plans to replace America's world dominance."

She went on to say in the statement: "This means standing boldly with our friends and partners, especially Taiwan. We must increase our economic ties, defense relationships, and political support for Taiwan's democratic system. This bill will support these goals."

Rep. Wagner tweeted that the amendment she introduced was a bill "to fight against Chinese aggression and support an independent Taiwan."

The Taiwan Assurance Act 2020 was passed by both houses of the Senate and House of Representatives as part of an omnibus appropriations law for fiscal year 2021, and was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump at the end of the year.

At that time, Congress required the US Secretary of State to review and submit reports on the relevant norms of US-Taiwan relations in the "Taiwan Assurance Act", "including the occasional memorandum called "Guidelines on Relations with Taiwan" (Guidelines on Relations with Taiwan) and related documents ” and reissued this guidance to departments and agencies of the Administration.

The "Guidelines for Relations with Taiwan" is an internal State Department regulation that regulates the details and limitations of the U.S. administration's contact with government departments and officials in Taiwan that do not have formal diplomatic relations.

Wagner believes that for decades, in order to curry favor with China, high-level officials of the US executive branch, including high-level military leaders, have not been allowed to visit Taiwan, and Taiwan’s top leaders have also been forbidden to come to the United States. A long list of complex and artificial requirements". She said then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in January 2021 that the U.S. government would be fully lifted from self-imposed restrictions, but Wagner’s opposition to President Joe Biden’s administration had been in conflict with Taiwan’s officials since taking office. Concerned about the practice of contact.

Representative Wagner issued a statement when he introduced the "Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act" at the end of February, saying: "I was very concerned when the Biden administration decided to reimpose certain restrictions on contact between US and Taiwan officials. It would embolden China's Communist Party and weaken America's support for our ally Taiwan."

In that statement, she said that when Congress passed the Taiwan Assurance Act in 2020, Congress made it very clear that the United States must dismantle these outdated and unnecessary restrictions on US-Taiwan engagement.

The bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday made some textual amendments to the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020, requiring the Secretary of State to conduct periodic reviews and update reports on the self-imposed restrictions".