    [House Hearing, 113 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                        THE TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT OF 2013

    =======================================================================

                                     MARKUP

                                   BEFORE THE

                      SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

                                     OF THE

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                       ON

                                    H.R. 419

                                   __________

                                 APRIL 25, 2013

                                   __________

                               Serial No. 113-16

                                   __________

            Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
                                      or
                           http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

                                    _____

                      U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

    80-550 PDF                WASHINGTON : 2013
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
    Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC
    area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104  Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC
    20402-0001

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                     EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
    CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
    ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida         ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
    DANA ROHRABACHER, California             Samoa
    STEVE CHABOT, Ohio                   BRAD SHERMAN, California
    JOE WILSON, South Carolina           GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
    MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas             ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
    TED POE, Texas                       GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
    MATT SALMON, Arizona                 THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
    TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania             BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
    JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          KAREN BASS, California
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
    MO BROOKS, Alabama                   DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    TOM COTTON, Arkansas                 ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
    PAUL COOK, California                JUAN VARGAS, California
    GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina       BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas            JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania                Massachusetts
    STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas                AMI BERA, California
    RON DeSANTIS, Florida                ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
    TREY RADEL, Florida                  GRACE MENG, New York
    DOUG COLLINS, Georgia                LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
    MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina         TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
    TED S. YOHO, Florida                 JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
    LUKE MESSER, Indiana

         Amy Porter, Chief of Staff      Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director

                   Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
                                     ------

                      Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific

                          STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Chairman
    DANA ROHRABACHER, California         ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
    MATT SALMON, Arizona                     Samoa
    MO BROOKS, Alabama                   AMI BERA, California
    GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina       TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania            BRAD SHERMAN, California
    DOUG COLLINS, Georgia                GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
    LUKE MESSER, Indiana                 WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                                   MARKUP OF

    H.R. 419, To strengthen and clarify the commercial, cultural, and
      other relations between the people of the United States and the
      people of Taiwan, as codified in the Taiwan Relations Act, and
      for other purposes.............................................     2
      Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 419 offered by
        the Honorable Steve Chabot, a Representative in Congress from
        the State of Ohio, and chairman, Subcommittee on Asia and the
        Pacific......................................................    27

                                    APPENDIX

    Markup notice....................................................    58
    Markup minutes...................................................    59

                        THE TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT OF 2013

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013

                           House of Representatives,

                     Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,

                         Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC.

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:05 p.m., in
    room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steve Chabot
    (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Mr. Chabot. The subcommittee will come to order.
        Pursuant to notice, I call up H.R. 419, the Taiwan Policy
    Act of 2013, for purposes of markup and move its recommendation
    to the full committee.
        Without objection, the bipartisan amendment in the nature
    of a substitute provided to all members earlier this week will
    be the base text and is considered as read and open for
    amendment at any point.
        [H.R. 419 and the amendment in the nature of a substitute
    follow:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                  ----------

        Mr. Chabot. I will now recognize myself for the purpose of
    making a brief opening statement. I have promised my colleagues
    that we will try to keep this short, so I will not use all of
    my 5 minutes.
        First, let me thank the ranking member, Mr. Faleomavaega,
    for his assistance in crafting this bipartisan amendment in the
    nature of a substitute and I, of course, want to commend and
    thank Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen for sponsoring this legislation;
    we will hear from her very shortly.
        I am proud to be a cosponsor in this Congress, as I have
    been in the past, and as my colleagues know, the Taiwan Policy
    Act was adopted unanimously by the Foreign Affairs Committee in
    November 2011. I hope it will be adopted this afternoon in this
    subcommittee in a similar fashion.
        As one of the original founding co-chairs of the
    Congressional Taiwan Caucus, I am a strong supporter of this
    legislation that would strengthen the relationship between our
    two Nations. I want to emphasize the word two Nations. Taiwan
    is a democracy. It is a loyal friend and ally, and it deserves
    to be treated as such by the United States Government.
        I won't go through the bill point by point, but I do want
    to focus on a couple of issues. First, one only needs to look
    at a map to see that Taiwan sits in a very dangerous part of
    the world. When I first came to Congress in 1995, Communist
    China had a number of missiles pointed at Taiwan and each year
    since, that number has grown from a couple of hundred to
    approximately 1,600 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles
    aimed at Taiwan today, our friend and ally.
        Since 2006, Taiwan has been unsuccessful in procuring new
    F-16 C/D fighter jets. I am told that the Obama administration
    currently ``has under consideration'' an arms sale package that
    may include the F-16 C/D. This legislation would authorize
    those sales and would provide a very important security shield
    to Taiwan as it faces potential aggression from China.
        I also want to briefly discuss a matter which this
    legislation addresses, the issue of restrictions on diplomatic
    visits by high ranking Taiwanese officials, which is something
    I have always felt is both insulting and counterproductive. I
    can remember joining a number of my colleagues, about 25 years
    ago flying up to New York City one evening after votes--about
    25 of us went--to meet with then Taiwanese President Chen Shui-
    bian, a democratically-elected leader and a great friend of the
    United States. We traveled to New York to meet with him because
    he was not allowed to travel to our capital here in Washington,
    DC, because it might offend the bullies in Beijing.
        I remember veiled threats from Communist China when former
    Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, known as the father of Taiwanese
    democracy, wanted to visit his alma mater at Cornell
    University. And I vividly remember meeting Taiwanese legislator
    Mark Chen in our Capitol here in Washington. Only a few weeks
    later, I had to travel to Baltimore to meet with him because he
    had become Foreign Minister, and because of his new position,
    he was no longer welcome to Washington.
        That is just plain nonsense. The Taiwan Policy Act before
    us this afternoon will address that issue by permitting senior
    leaders of Taiwan to enter the United States under conditions
    of appropriate respect and permit meetings between high level
    Taiwanese and U.S. officials in all U.S. Executive departments.
        This is an excellent bill, which in a number of areas,
    strengthens our relationship with our friend and ally. I urge
    my colleagues to support it. I will now recognize my good
    friend from American Samoa, the ranking member of this
    subcommittee, Eni Faleomavaega.
        Mr. Faleomavaega. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to
    commend you for your leadership and initiative that you have
    taken also in working closely with our colleague, Chairwoman
    Ros-Lehtinen, in crafting this piece of legislation which I
    think is a positive direction in terms of making sure that the
    leaders of the people of Taiwan are given every expression of
    self-determination in their ability to practice a democratic
    form of government, as they are doing now. And doing so, too,
    Mr. Chairman, I want to recognize the presence of the
    gentleman, not only was he the author and the primary moving
    force in establishing what we then passed into law, which is
    the Taiwan Relations Act, a former chairman of this
    subcommittee, the gentleman from New York, my dear friend, and
    I am sure you know him, Congressman Lester Wolf. He is here
    with us. I appreciate your being here with us, Congressman
    Wolf.
        And I think the cornerstone of this whole Taiwan Relations
    Act as it relates to some of the changes that we are about to
    make in amending some of the provisions are the fact that we
    want to be absolutely certain that the people and the leaders
    of Taiwan continue to practice their democracy. And as you
    know, it is my understanding that in the advent of what
    happened in the, how the whole world had changed its course in
    terms of President Nixon's ability then to provide a dialogue
    and then eventually I guess you might say literally changed the
    course of history in looking at and Taiwan was one of the
    probably the central issue of whether or not the leaders of
    China were going to establish a better working relationship
    with our country. And as it turned out, Taiwan was left
    purposely to the extent if there is ever a, my understanding in
    principle, that if there is ever to be change on the political
    landscape in terms of how Taiwan is to be governed, it is to be
    done peacefully between the people and the leaders of Beijing
    as well as with the leaders of the people of Taiwan.
        And I think the Taiwan Relations Act has been that bastion
    of making sure that the people of Taiwan are fully protected in
    that regard of their right of self-determination and democracy.
        What happens in the future? As you know, the advent of what
    has happened in recent years is the elections where the people
    of Taiwan have made their wishes known for a different policy
    in terms of how to deal with Beijing in that respect in terms
    of its political status. That is entirely left out. But on the
    question of promoting greater economic and trade relations
    between Beijing and Taiwan, this has become true now. What I
    have always been curious about, Mr. Chairman, is the fact that
    before this change of policy, in actuality, Taiwan and China
    have had over a $100-billion trade relationship unofficially
    and informally for all those years prior to this change now
    where now they are a better closer working relationship as far
    as economics and trade development is concerned.
        So with that, I want to commend you again for your bringing
    this piece of legislation before the committee. And as I said,
    I do support the principles and what you are trying to achieve
    here, and I look forward to working with our colleagues to see
    if there are any other positive amendments that will be helpful
    in bringing this legislation to a successful completion before
    we move it on to the full committee.
        And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        Mr. Chabot. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. I would
    like to thank the ranking member for his statement.
        I would now like to recognize the gentlelady from Florida,
    the former chair of the full Foreign Affairs Committee and now
    the chair of the Subcommittee on the Middle East, Ileana Ros-
    Lehtinen.
        Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I thank
    you deeply, and Mr. Faleomavaega, and I thank your dedicated,
    hardworking staff for working with my lazy bones--no--with my
    also hardworking dedicated staff in order to bring this
    bipartisan bill to markup this afternoon.
        I would also like to thank the co-chairs of the
    Congressional Taiwan Caucus, Albio Sires, Mario Diaz-Balart,
    Gerry Connolly, and John Carter, for fully supporting and
    cosponsoring this important legislation.
        I am so glad that you pointed out Mr. Wolf's attendance
    here today because he knows how important the Taiwan Relations
    Act has been to the relation between our two Nations, the
    cornerstone of our policy, and Taiwan continues to be such an
    essential ally of the United States. This bill reiterates to
    the world, and more importantly, it tells the Taiwanese people
    just how deeply we value that friendship.
        This bill will further strengthen our relations by, as you
    already had pointed out in your opening statements, permitting
    senior Taiwanese leaders to meet with U.S. officials in all
    executive branches, authorizing the sale of F-16 C/D fighter
    aircraft to the Armed Forces of Taiwan, authorizing the
    transfer of decommissioned class guided missile frigates to
    Taiwan and supporting Taiwan membership in international
    organizations such as the United Nations and the International
    Civil Aviation Organization.
        So Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, thank you again for
    your hard work in bringing this bill to markup. It is an
    important step forward in solidifying our close alliance with
    our democratic ally, Taiwan, and I urge my colleagues to
    support its passage. I thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and
    Ranking Member.
        Mr. Chabot. I thank the gentlelady and she yields back.
        Mr. Faleomavaega. Will the chairman yield?
        Mr. Chabot. Yes.
        Mr. Faleomavaega. Mr. Chairman, I just want to thank my
    dear friend from Florida for her comments and want to note of
    interest is the fact that Taiwan currently has formal
    diplomatic relations with 23 nations in the world and this is
    something of an irony in terms of how do we work out a
    situation in terms of dealing with Taiwan. And as you mentioned
    earlier, I remember distinctly when President Lee tried to
    visit his alma mater, Cornell University, where he received his
    doctorate in agricultural science and there was a big boo-hoo
    as to what is wrong the making a visit just for academic
    purposes and to do that, and I recall that very distinctly that
    caused an international, which to me it is really not that, I
    think it was, it is very good. We need to open this up.
        If we allow countries that are of highly questionable
    reputation for their leaders to come to our country, why are we
    not extending the same courtesy for leaders and people like
    Taiwan that practice democracy?
        Thank you.
        Mr. Chabot. Thank you. The Chair will reclaim the time.
        I would also like to acknowledge, as some of my colleagues
    have, the importance of Congressman Wolf. We worked together
    and have seen each other in Taiwan and here in the United
    States and New York and elsewhere working on Taiwan-American
    issues and I thank you for your leadership both in Congress and
    since you have left, Congressman.
        Are there other members who would like to speak on Taiwan?
        The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Perry, is recognized.
        Mr. Perry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you Ranking
    Member. U.S.-Taiwan ties today undoubtedly remain strong;
    however, our operative approach to this vital relationship is
    currently shackled by many self-imposed and counterproductive
    constraints that exacerbate Taiwan's diplomatic, political and
    economic isolation. While China has increased its leverage and
    pressure on Taiwan forcing it into its orbit, we are missing
    opportunities to leverage Taiwan's considerable strengths and
    capabilities as a reliable and like-minded partner in
    confronting common challenges.
        In light of the momentous challenges that have occurred
    both within and outside of Taiwan over the last few decades, it
    is time for us to formulate a new vision in Washington for a
    bilateral relationship. I believe we shall break through the
    barriers of conventional wisdom and mainstream thinking and
    work toward the normalization of relations with Taiwan as we
    did 40 years ago with China.
        I believe as you do, Mr. Chairman, that the legislation we
    are considering today will do just that, and I thank you and
    the ranking member, and I yield back.
        Mr. Chabot. The gentleman yields back. Are there any other
    members who would like to make a statement?
        The gentleman from California, Mr. Rohrabacher, is
    recognized.
        Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr. Chairman, 2 years ago, when we were
    debating this issue, there was a side, a little side issue
    there that was going on and that was--but it was very
    indicative of what the Taiwan Relations Act and what Taiwan is
    all about. And what it was is the Falun Gong, which is of
    course a Chinese native religious organization dealing with
    yoga and meditation, who are now being brutally suppressed by
    the Communist Chinese regime in Beijing, that they had over the
    years been able to broadcast on a television satellite that was
    located in Taiwan and actually a majority of the share of it is
    owned by the Taiwan Government, well, during the last, 2 years
    ago, there was a discussion about Taiwan making friends with
    Beijing by basically joining in on this suppression of the
    Falun Gong by not letting them have access to these TV
    broadcasts. And I called up President Ma at the time and asked
    him to take that into consideration, to please permit the Falun
    Gong to continue their broadcasts otherwise, and this is very
    symbolic to those of us who want to know whether or not
    standing up for Taiwan, why should we stand up for them if they
    are doing things like this? And let me add that the Taiwanese
    Government, President Weng responded, and the Falun Gong were
    not kicked off the TV station.
        Let us hope this year I would again call on the Taiwan
    Government because 2 years ago they only got a 2-year contract
    and they are up again, and I would hope that the people of
    Taiwan, especially the government in Taiwan, if it needs to be
    treated with any special consideration, it won't be given that
    or they can't expect that if they are treating--if they are
    doing the bidding of the Communist Chinese regime in Beijing by
    entering into the suppression of the Falun Gong.
        So I would hope that they would continue to permit this
    group to have access to the airwaves and demonstrate that they
    are an independent and free country.
        Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Chabot. Thank you very much. Having met with Falun Gong
    myself many times over the years, I think the gentleman's
    remarks are absolutely correct and the repression that they
    have seen, particularly in China, is shameful and some of the
    photos of the torture they have gone through are extremely
    disturbing. Thank you for raising the issue.
        Are there other members that would like to make a
    statement? If not, are there any amendments?
        Hearing no amendments, then, the question occurs on the
    motion to report the bill favorably, as amended.
        All those in favor, signify by saying aye.
        Opposed, no.
        The ayes have it in the opinion of the Chair, and the
    motion is approved.
        Without objection, the bill will be reported favorably to
    the full committee in the form of a single amendment in the
    nature of a substitute and the staff is directed to make any
    technical and conforming amendments.
        I want to thank all our members and staff and others who
    are interested in being here today and for their assistance and
    cooperation in today's markup.
        If there is no further business to come before the
    subcommittee, the subcommittee is adjourned. Thank you.
        [Whereupon, at 2:30 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

                                A P P E N D I X

                                  ----------

         Material Submitted for the Hearing RecordNotice deg.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]