S.Amdt. 925

SA 925. Mr. McCAIN (for Mr. Rubio) submitted an amendment intended to
be proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military activities of the
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. TAIWAN TRAVEL POLICY.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.),
enacted in 1979, has continued for 37 years to be the
cornerstone of relations between the United States and Taiwan
and has served as an anchor for peace and security in the
Western Pacific area.
(2) The Taiwan Relations Act declares that peace and
stability in the Western Pacific area are in the political,
security, and economic interests of the United States and are
matters of international concern.
(3) The United States considers any effort to determine the
future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by
boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of
the Western Pacific and of grave concern to the United
States.
(4) Taiwan has succeeded in a momentous transition to
democracy beginning in the late 1980s and has been a beacon
of democratic practices in Asia, and Taiwan's democratic
achievements inspire many countries and people in the region.
(5) Visits to a country by United States cabinet members
and other high-ranking officials are an indicator of the
breadth and depth of ties between the United States and that
country.
(6) Since the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act,
relations between the United States and Taiwan have suffered
from insufficient high-level communication due to the self-
imposed restrictions that the United States maintains on
high-level visits with Taiwan.
(b) Sense of Congress; Statement of Policy.--
(1) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the United States Government should not place any
restrictions on the travel of officials at any level of the
United States Government to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese
counterparts or on the travel of high-level officials of
Taiwan to enter the United States to meet with officials of
the United States.
(2) Statement of policy.--It should be the policy of the
United States--
(A) to allow officials at all levels of the United States
Government, including cabinet-level national security
officials, general officers, and other Executive Branch
officials, to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese
counterparts;
(B) to allow high-level officials of Taiwan to enter the
United States, under conditions that demonstrate appropriate
respect for the dignity of such officials, and to meet with
officials of the United States, including officials from the
Department of State and the Department of Defense and other
cabinet agencies; and
(C) to encourage the Taipei Economic and Cultural
Representative Office, and any other instrumentality
established by Taiwan, to conduct business in the United
States, including activities that involve participation by
Members of Congress, officials of Federal, State, or local
governments of the United States, or any high-level official
of Taiwan.
(c) Authority.--Officials at all levels of the United
States Government, including cabinet-level national security
officials, general officers, and other Executive Branch
officials, are hereby authorized to travel to Taiwan to meet
their Taiwanese counterparts.
(d) Semiannual Reports.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days
thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives
a report on travel by United States Executive Branch
officials to Taiwan.
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