[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 535 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 535

To encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 13, 2017

  Mr. Chabot (for himself, Mr. Royce of California, and Mr. Sherman) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Taiwan Travel Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), 
        enacted in 1979, has continued for 37 years to be a 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 area 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 
        democracy 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 such 
        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.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS; STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States Government should encourage visits between officials from the 
United States and Taiwan at all levels.
    (b) Statement of Policy.--It should be the policy of the United 
States to--
            (1) 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;
            (2) allow high-level officials of Taiwan to enter the 
        United States, under conditions which 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
            (3) encourage the Taipei Economic and Cultural 
        Representative Office, and any other instrumentality 
        established by Taiwan, to conduct business in the United 
        States, including activities which involve participation by 
        Members of Congress, officials of Federal, State, or local 
        governments of the United States, or any high-level official of 
        Taiwan.
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