A resolution commending Taiwan for its history of democratic elections, and expressing support of Taiwan's democratic institutions.

Madam President, I am honored to be on the floor with my colleague, Senator Kaine from Virginia, and we are getting ready to pass in the U.S. Senate, unanimously, a resolution commending Taiwan for its history of democratic elections and expressing support of Taiwan's democratic institutions and its upcoming elections this Saturday.

This resolution we have has half the U.S. Senate as cosponsors, and we are going to pass it here in a few minutes. That means every Senator in the U.S. Senate is supporting this.

So why are we doing this? Well, it is very important. Taiwan has a Presidential election this Saturday. And, of course, the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping are doing everything they can to coerce the Taiwanese people to interfere in the election, and that is something that we are not supportive of at all.

This resolution goes through the history of Taiwan's democracy. It mentions that on Saturday, January 13,

Taiwan will hold its 8th Presidential election and 10th legislative election since it began its transition to democracy.

It then moves to the sense of the U.S. Senate, where we are commending Taiwan for the example it has set for self-governance--not just in the Indo-Pacific region, but throughout the whole world where the Senate regards the democracy of Taiwan as a great strategic strength for the free world and an indispensable component of contemporary United States-Taiwan relations, and a sense of the Senate in this resolution that we all--all 100 of us--remain concerned about the Chinese Communist Party's aggressive interference that is happening right now.

We have had two very good articles recently in our American press. Here is one from the Wall Street Journal.

(Mr. BOOKER assumed the Chair.)

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Wall Street Journal article entitled ``China Isn't Backing Off Taiwan: President Xi Jinping is using military pressure and propaganda to sway the island's presidential election in January'' be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Washington Post article entitled ``4 ways China is trying to interfere in Taiwan's presidential election'' be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, we are almost certainly facing a volatile and maybe even dangerous period in the Taiwan Strait because of the Chinese Communist Party. The election is January 13. The inauguration won't take place until May. So what we need to do as a country is to provide steady, unwavering resolve and support of Taiwan's democracy, and, of course, we need to continue to critically enhance cross-strait deterrence.

I will end with one final thing before my colleague from Virginia, I know, wants to say a few words on this important resolution. But this is also a vulnerability for the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping himself. Think about it. This undermines--this election--all of these elections in Taiwan--undermine the central premise of the Chinese Communist Party's rule that one dictator knows what is best for 1.4 billion people, in perpetuity, for as long as he is alive.

What I guarantee you the dictators in Beijing are worried about is that people in China are going to look across the Taiwan Strait and go: Wait a minute. How come we can't do that? Chinese democracy, how come we can't do that?

What we are doing right now is showing commitment and resolve for Taiwanese democracy.

I am proud to say, many, many years ago, on the eve of Taiwan's first election, the Chinese Communist Party moved its military up. They shot missiles over Taiwan. This is now referred to as the ``Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.'' It was a huge crisis in 1995, 1996. And President Clinton, to his credit, sent two carrier strike groups and a Marine amphibious ready group to show American commitment and resolve.

I was a young infantry officer on one of those Navy ships during that time in the Taiwan Strait, showing American commitment and resolve, and that is what we are doing with this resolution on now their eighth Presidential election in Taiwan, and I am honored to be here with Senator Kaine to pass this unanimous Senate resolution in support of Taiwan democracy.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Virginia. And right here, I have the resolution. As I mentioned, half the U.S. Senate--Democrats and Republicans--are cosponsors of this important resolution commending Taiwan for its history of democratic elections, expressing concern about the Chinese Communist Party's interference in this upcoming election, and expressing our support for Taiwan's democratic institutions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 521, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, for those watching all over the world, this Senate resolution, with 50 Democratic and Republican Senate cosponsors, has now passed the U.S. Senate as an official resolution commending the people of Taiwan for their democratic elections and expressing our support for the upcoming election this Saturday.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise with my colleague from Alaska, Senator Sullivan. He and I are good colleagues. We work together on the Armed Services Committee. I work closely with him. I learn a lot from him. And, usually, on Thursday afternoons, I am learning about an Alaskan of the week from Senator Sullivan. But here it is on a Thursday afternoon, and we are standing to offer a unanimous consent resolution in support of Taiwanese democracy.

I want to drill that just a little bit more of what a good news story Taiwanese democracy is. As many of you know, Taiwan was a single-party nation under martial law through much of its history through the end of the 1980s. In the late 1980s, Taiwan made a decision. It made a fundamental decision to move toward democracy.

It had its first legislative elections in the early 1990s and its first Presidential election in 1996. And since that election, as my colleague mentioned, it has had numerous Presidential elections, numerous legislative elections; and, often, those elections have led to transfer in power--transfer of the Presidency from one party to another, transfer of legislative majority from one party to another.

But Taiwan has built a democracy that is stable enough to withstand that, and its respect for human rights, freedom of religion, free press, and its successful economy has borne proof to the notion that allowing all Taiwanese to participate in democracy has been wonderful for Taiwanese society.

I think Taiwan is a great example. Often in this Chamber, we are grappling with really tough issues around the world. We wonder: Will Cuba ever be a human rights respecting democracy? Look at Taiwan. What about Venezuela? Look at Taiwan. What about the People's Republic of China? Look at Taiwan. What about Russia? Look at Taiwan.

It is important that we shine a spotlight on nations that have made the transition from authoritarian to democracy and succeeded socially, politically, culturally, economically in that transition.

As my colleague said, that is a good-news sign, but it is also a sign that makes dictators very, very worried.

The purpose for this resolution is to stand and support Taiwanese democracy. As my colleague mentioned, China has been very engaged in dis- and misinformation campaigns surrounding this election.

The election is this weekend. The inauguration will not be until May. We could even foresee some potential challenge between the election and the inauguration, and we need to stand strong and support Taiwanese democracy to do so.

Last thing I will say is this: I led a delegation from the Senate about exactly a month ago to Guatemala under some similar circumstances, and the President who was in the chair just a few minutes before you, Senator Butler, came along with me, along with some other Senate and House colleagues.

There was a Presidential election in Guatemala and President-elect Bernardo Arevalo was swept into office

on an anti-corruption campaign, promising Guatemalan citizens a real democracy that they have deserved for a very long time.

The outgoing government was trying to disrupt the prospect of a peaceful transfer of power, and so we took a bicameral delegation down to talk tough to the outgoing government and to speak up for the incoming government and try to preserve democracy in Guatemala.

Why do I bring that up now? I bring it up because Guatemala is one of the few nations in the world that recognizes Taiwan, and there had been a very furious and corrupt effort by China to get the government or Presidential candidates to guarantee they would switch allegiance from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China.

When we were there supporting the will of the Guatemalan people who overwhelmingly elected Bernardo Arevalo to be their next President, he made a commitment to us that they weren't going to change, they weren't going to succumb to Chinese pressure. They were going to continue to stand together with another democracy that is moving forward.

That inauguration will happen on Sunday. The Taiwanese election happens on Saturday. We are standing here together, Senator Sullivan and I, to support democracies around the world, whether it be Taiwan in East Asia, Guatemala in Central America; the United States should stand up for those who are embracing a democratic path, and I am proud to support--along with so many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle--this UC resolution.

And with that, I yield to my colleague from Alaska.