Taiwan Travel Act

Mr. Speaker, as we heard yesterday in testimony from General Wald, the Iran deal ``places Iran on a trajectory to become as intractable a challenge as North Korea is today--and very possibly worse.'' The general noted that ``while Pyongyang's relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons has only deepened its isolation and driven it toward bankruptcy, the JCPOA is doing the opposite for Iran.''

It was clear from the beginning that this deal was deeply flawed. It was clear that it was based on a fundamentally misguided premise: that Iran's manifest desire for a nuclear weapon could be considered separate from its development of a delivery capacity for that weapon or from the rest of Iran's violent campaign for regional hegemony. It should be self-evident that a nuclear warhead without a delivery vehicle is not going very far very fast. Iran's ballistic missile program is inseparable from its desire to impose nuclear blackmail on the U.S., Israel, and other regional allies.

Iran also exports its extremist revolution through proliferation of conventional weapons to terrorist proxies. The deal gave Iran an infusion of an estimated $115 billion dollars in unfrozen assets--and as John Kerry said in an interview that was carried by CNN, we don't know where that money is going and it will probably wind up in the terrorists' hands--not to mention other financial sweeteners like the $1.7 billion in small bills. As we heard yesterday, this money has helped Iran extend its malign influence to an unprecedented extent across the region--in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.

I'd like to thank Chairman Royce for his leadership on Iran these past several years, of which yesterday's hearing was but one example. Today we are considering one key measure, the Chairman's H.R. 1698, the Iran Ballistic Missiles and International Sanctions Enforcement Act, which enjoys broad support in the House with 320 co-sponsors. This bill expands sanctions against organizations and individuals that facilitate Iran's ballistic missile program as well as its trade in conventional weapons. This bill is critical to our national security and that of our allies in the region, especially our good friend and ally Israel. It's time we start turning the tide back against Iran to guarantee that it never realizes its genocidal designs on the Jewish State or the other freedom-loving peoples of the region.

We help do that by passing H.R. 1698 out of committee. It is a bill I have cosponsored and I strongly support.

I also strongly support the Taiwan Travel Act (H.R. 535) and commend Chairman Chabot for introducing this legislation, of which I am a cosponsor.

The Communist Party leadership in China has tried to isolate democratic Taiwan, pressuring countries to break diplomatic relations and bullying the UN and multi-lateral agencies, such as the World Health Organization and INTERPOL, to exclude Taiwan from membership. These actions have created needless blind spots in global anti- terrorism cooperation and hampered coordination on key global health issues.

Just this March, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the first human fatality from the H7N9 avian flu in Taiwan. This is a pressing global concern, as we know that SARS virus spread from Mainland China and Taiwan in past.

The U.S. and Taiwan are cooperating in containing H7N9 virus, as we did 14 years ago to contain SARS. As such, China's actions to exclude Taiwan from the WHO and other international bodies is dangerous and unacceptable. Taiwan should be allowed to join the WHO. It is not only an interest of Taiwan, it is in the interest of global public health.

Restrictions on the travel of Taiwanese officials to the U.S. and on high-level U.S. officials to Taiwan are self-imposed rules intended to placate Mainland China. In the current strategic climate, these rules are now counterproductive and the policy should be changed.

We should be expanding cooperation with Taiwan on a number of fronts, particularly now that Communist China has stepped up efforts to isolate and bully democratic Taiwan. If China persists in its efforts to exclude Taiwan from international bodies like Interpol and WHO and the International Civilian Aviation Organization, the U.S. should be sending cabinet level officials from HHS, Transportation, and the Justice Department to consult with Taiwanese officials--and to host their counterparts here in Washington. Such meetings will advance and protect American interests.

Under Xi Jinping's leadership, China has become more repressive domestically, more protectionist in its trade policies, and more assertive globally. As documented by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which I cochair with Senator Marco Rubio, China's domestic repression is the fuel for its international aggression, threatening American jobs and security, including in the South China Sea, in the Taiwan Straits, and in Hong Kong, where the ``one country, two system'' model is fast eroding. China has also imprisoned Taiwanese citizen and democracy advocate Lee Ming-che, whose wife Lee Ching-yu, sat in this very room in July at a hearing I chaired and asked the international community to work for her husband's release.

China will never be happy with U.S.-Taiwan policy or the Taiwan Relations Act. Communist China will never be placated by our self- imposed restrictions on travel and consultations. We should not try. As China squeezes Taiwan's international space and openly threatens it militarily, the U.S. must have more direct consultations with democratic Taiwan, not less.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3320) to direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), the author of this important bill which counters the harmful and unacceptable efforts being made to undermine Taiwan's inclusion at the World Health Organization.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), our chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it was 20 years ago that we here in Congress spoke with one voice. We passed a law to support Taiwan's inclusion in the World Health Organization. It took a decade of advocacy; it took pressure before Taiwan was finally invited to participate in that assembly for the first time in 2009. So you can imagine it is with great disappointment that we learned that Taiwan was excluded from the meetings last year for the first time after 8 years of consecutive participation in Geneva.

Mr. Speaker, Taiwan's participation at the World Health Organization is a matter of public health, as our friend, Mr. Sherman, and as the chairman of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee, Mr. Yoho, have both reminded us. This is a matter of public health.

Taiwan has contributed greatly, so greatly to the international efforts to prevent epidemics. It has provided critical humanitarian aid and medical training around the world; financial assistance, investing $6 billion in international medical and humanitarian aid efforts since 1996, all over this globe, 80 countries.

During the 2014 Ebola crisis, it was Taiwan that was there, providing also 100,000 sets of protective gear for health workers. Through the global cooperation and training framework, the U.S. and Taiwan have jointly conducted training programs for experts to combat diseases from Dengue fever to Zika.

Mr. Speaker, yes, as Mr. Yoho reminded us, and Mr. Sherman, we know

from this experience that infectious diseases know no borders. They so quickly spread, and the global health community does not benefit when Taiwan is kept in the dark on these critical matters. We are all safer when Taiwan has meaningful, unobstructed participation in international health cooperation forums.

All of us recall that Taiwan had an awful experience during the SARS epidemic that was 15 years ago when the World Health Organization directed Taiwan officials not to approach them, but to approach Beijing for information-sharing instead.

It is clear that Taiwan's exclusion from last year's World Health Assembly will only hurt. The health and safety of the people of Taiwan should not be needlessly held hostage by politics, and world health should not be put at risk. Taiwanese doctors have so much to offer, given their experience providing this humanitarian assistance around this world.

Last fall, I met with the Director-General of the World Health Organization.

I pressed him for Taiwan's participation. Unfortunately, this meeting did not relieve my concerns about Taiwan's future outlook. And it is for this reason, Mr. Speaker, that it is all the more important that the U.S. use all of its diplomatic leverage to support Taiwan's efforts to regain observer status to the WHO.

I applaud the administration for sending our Health Secretary to meet with the delegation Taiwan sent to Geneva for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the assembly meeting last year, and I think, by doing so, the U.S. demonstrated leadership by putting international cooperation ahead of politics. Passage of this bill demonstrates our support for Taiwan's inclusion.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), chairman emeritus of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, I would like to share with the body that I led a delegation to Taipei this last summer, and I was there when Taiwan pledged to donate $800,000 in disaster relief to Houston. That was in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It is generous actions like this that I can think of, 80 occasions, that remind us again and again that Taiwan is a positive actor in the international community, and that is why we must continue to support Taiwan's international standing and well-being.

So I would like to say in closing that I thank my colleagues for being original cosponsors on this bill. In addition to Mr. Yoho and myself, I want to thank Mr. Engel. And I want to thank Mr. Sherman. I want to thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue, and Mr. Connolly as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership on this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of all three of these overwhelmingly bipartisan bills.

First, I would like to speak on H.R. 535, the Taiwan Travel Act, a bill which I introduced this Congress along with my colleague, Congressman Sherman. We appreciate his support on this and a lot of other issues in this Congress, Chairman Royce and other Members as well.

For close to 4 decades now, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act has served as a cornerstone of U.S.-Taiwan relations, and together, with President Reagan's six assurances, we have maintained peace and stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region. However, there are still major steps that we can take to further strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.

I believe one of the most important improvements that we can make is to allow the President of Taiwan and other high-ranking officials, like Taiwan's foreign and defense ministers, to visit Washington, our Nation's Capital, something that is currently prohibited. This is our own self-imposed policy and it is outrageous. These restrictions are only carried out because of potential diplomatic retaliation from the PRC, from China.

Personally, I think restricting high-level visits by senior Taiwanese officials is not only insulting, but it is counterproductive.

We should be encouraging more direct dialogue with the democratically elected President of Taiwan and other highest elected officials.

We let the leaders of China, the PRC, come to Washington on a regular basis and we give them the highest honors, yet we shun the democratically elected leaders of our longtime ally, Taiwan.

We need to send a strong signal that the current approach to bilateral contacts and communications between the U.S. and Taiwan is outdated and it is time for it to go and be changed, and that is what this bill is all about.

If we seriously want to promote greater democracy in the region, we should be as supportive as possible to the countries that are actually practicing democracy, and that is what Taiwan does. It is a longtime ally of ours.

That is exactly why I introduced the Taiwan Travel Act along, again, with Congressman Sherman and Chairman Royce a year ago--January 13, 2017, to be exact.

This bill, which has broad, bipartisan support from a long list of cosponsors, states that our government should encourage visits between the U.S. and Taiwan at all levels.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to quickly voice my support for H.R. 3320, a bill championed by my friend and colleague, Chairman Ted Yoho. This bill directs the Department of State to assist Taiwan in regaining observer status in the World Health Organization, WHO. Unfortunately, Taiwan has been excluded from participating in most of the really important international organizations, including the WHO, for almost 50 years now.

Many of my colleagues and I have advocated for years for Taiwan's meaningful participation in the WHO, much to the dismay of China, which has consistently thwarted these efforts.

Taiwan's exclusion from the WHO creates a dangerous and unnecessary gap in global health, especially considering the stellar health research and medical resources Taiwan has to offer.

That is why H.R. 3320 is so important. WHO membership for Taiwan is not only in the best interests of Taiwan, it is in the best interests of the rest of the world, including the United States.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I want to voice my support for H. Res. 676, Chairman Royce's and Ranking Member Engel's resolution supporting the rights of the people of Iran and condemning the Iranian regime for its crackdown on legitimate protesters. This is a commonsense measure.

The current regime in Iran has never respected human rights or the rule of law. The recent situation in Iran only underscores this reality.

I am pleased to see my colleagues quickly condemning the atrocities by that government this very day; however, I want to take this opportunity to stress the importance of remembering the big picture in Iran. It is a country, let's face it, that is being run by thugs. Not only do they perpetrate violence and marginalize their own people, they harbor, promote, and finance terrorism throughout the region. They threaten America and its allies. They continue to develop ballistic missiles, which we know that one day they would like to have tipped with nuclear devices. That could be a threat not just to our allies in the region, but the United States.

This most recent outbreak of civil unrest in the country should not be a surprise, considering the Iranian regime's ruthless tactics.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues join me in support of this measure also and take further steps to hold Iran accountable for both its domestic and international violations. I urge my colleagues to support all three of these measures.

Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank the gentlemen from California, Chairman Royce and Mr. Sherman, for their support on these and other measures.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 535) to encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 535, the Taiwan Travel Act, and I recognize Mr. Chabot for his longstanding dedication and support to the people of Taiwan.

Mr. Speaker, Taiwan succeeded in a momentous transition, a transition which took them to democracy. They did this decades ago, and since, it has become a beacon of democracy across the Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan is a strong friend and critical partner to the United States. Congress has been central to this longstanding bond, championing a strong relationship with Taiwan through a number of landmark measures, like the Taiwan Relations Act, impressing successive administrations to fulfill their obligation to sell defensive arms to Taiwan. Today, Congress continues this legacy with this Taiwan Travel Act, which has gained strong, bipartisan support.

We should encourage our officials to visit Taipei, to meet with their democratically elected counterparts on the many issues, the many programs, that we work on together, such as global health, commercial ties, global cooperation and training, the framework that we have in place. We should also welcome Taiwanese officials here.

Mr. Speaker, there are, in fact, no laws that bar our executive branch officials at any level from visiting Taiwan. The EPA Administrator in 2014 was the last executive branch official to visit Taiwan. A total of six Cabinet-level officials have visited Taiwan since 1979.

As our 10th largest trading partner, Taiwan deserves more attention. U.S. interests in the region deserve more respect. This bill encourages officials, at all levels of the U.S. Government, including Cabinet- level officials, to travel to Taiwan to meet their counterparts and vice versa.

Mr. Speaker, we must build stronger ties in our relationship with Taiwan.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the chairman emeritus of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is the author of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am a decades-long supporter of Taiwan; and as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have made supporting stronger U.S.- Taiwan economic and security ties a priority for our committee. I have traveled to Taiwan many times, as have members of the committee.

I really want to thank Chairman Chabot for introducing this important measure, and I want to thank him for being a long-time champion for Taiwan, especially when he was chairman of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee.

The U.S. and Taiwan share a common commitment, and that commitment is to democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. Taiwan's successes serve as an example of what can be built on these important principles. We should be supporting countries that have achieved democracy to serve as an inspiration for those values across the world.

The Taiwan Travel Act is important because it will encourage more interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan. This is long overdue. It is needed, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 535.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, H.R. 535, the Taiwan Travel Act. I am pleased to have joined with Congressman Chabot in introducing this bill, the Taiwan Travel Act.

Taiwan is not just an important trading partner, our 14th largest market. It is not just a land of 23 million people. It is a democratic ally of the United States, a place where our values are displayed in the Asia-Pacific region. Yet it would be surprising for most Americans to know that leaders from Taiwan are not allowed to visit the United States under any reasonable format. Instead, the President of Taiwan cannot visit Washington, D.C., but can visit Los Angeles for a refueling stop on the way to Costa Rica.

What an absurd fiction that the President of Taiwan would fly across the Pacific again and again to visit their friends in Costa Rica or other

Central American countries and that the refueling stop in the United States is just a 2-day effort to put fuel on a jet plane.

Now, my district actually benefits from this, because when the President and several different officials of Taiwan come to America, they refuel at Los Angeles Airport and they come to the Sheraton Universal Hotel in the 30th Congressional District. But in spite of the benefit both in terms of image and the economy that the current situation provides for the 30th District, it is time for us to grow up and it is time for us to realize that Taiwan is a vital ally and that its most important leaders should be visiting Washington, D.C., and talking not only to the legislative branch, but talking to the executive branch as well.

We should no longer be in a circumstance where, when Members of Congress from other parts of the country want to visit with the President of Taiwan, they have to fly to Universal City and stay at the Sheraton in my district and visit there.

We could communicate far better if the President of Taiwan was able to land at Dulles and be in the halls of Congress.

This bill simply says that it is time to encourage travel of the high-ranking officials of each country to the other and meetings at the highest levels. These are important steps in ending this effort to isolate Taiwan, because by encouraging a greater level of high-level visits and dialogue, we would ease Taiwan's international isolation and reaffirm that the U.S. has a political and security commitment to the freedom of Taiwan.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Mr. Chabot for introducing this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, every year, China threatens Taiwan, attempts to strangle that democracy, bases missiles just over the Taiwan Straits, conducts military exercises designed to simulate an invasion, hurts the economy of Taiwan, and hurts the people of Taiwan.

What is the mildest possible response that the United States could make to these provocative and hostile actions? It is the adoption of the Taiwan Travel Act, H.R. 535, to simply have meetings with Taiwanese officials and simply allow them to land, even at those airports in the United States inconvenient for refueling on the way to Costa Rica.

We should welcome the leaders of Taiwan as we welcome the leaders of other allies of the United States, and this is the mildest answer we could make to the saber-rattling from Beijing.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.