WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) helped reintroduce legislation calling for the U.S. to resume formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan and end the outdated and counterproductive “One China Policy.” The resolution also directs the Biden administration to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations, and to negotiate a bilateral U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement. 

“Last year, I was honored to join a congressional delegation for my first visit to Taiwan, one of America’s most trusted allies,” said Rep. Owens. “While in Taiwan, I witnessed firsthand the people’s remarkable resilience in the face of an existential threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. The Biden administration’s ‘One China Policy’ undermines Taiwan’s democracy, independence, and sovereignty and incentivizes China’s anti-democratic foreign policy. I strongly support this House Resolution to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan and America’s commitment to freedom, liberty, and democracy in every corner of the world.”

Background: 

The U.S. maintained normal diplomatic relations with the government in Taiwan until 1979 when then-President Jimmy Carter abruptly cut off formal ties with Taipei and recognized the Communist regime in Beijing.

Lawmakers responded by approving the bipartisan Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), the cornerstone of continued U.S. ties with the island. President Reagan upgraded the relationship during his term with the “Six Assurances,” which made clear that the United States, which has never accepted Communist China’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, “has not altered its position.”

Despite the TRA and the “Six Assurances,” the U.S. still lacks formal ties with Taiwan, inexplicably treating the island’s democratically elected government the same way it treats brutal regimes in North Korea and Iran from a diplomatic perspective – and in a category worse than that of Cuba’s dictatorship, which President Obama and Vice President Biden recognized during their second term.

The full text of the legislation is available here.

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