[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 55 (Thursday, April 16, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E518-E519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMMEMORATING THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT

                                  _____
                                 

                            HON. LUKE MESSER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 16, 2015

  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 36th 
anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). The U.S.-Taiwan 
bilateral relationship has expanded and grown stronger since the TRA 
was signed into law in 1979. I recently returned from Taiwan where I 
experienced firsthand our shared values and close economic ties. Last 
year, Taiwan was the United States' 10th largest trading partner. My 
home state of Indiana has also benefited from these commercial 
partnerships and was the first state to establish a trade office in 
Taiwan. On April 9th, President Ma Ying-jeou shared his insight on our 
bilateral relations in his remarks at the AmCham's annual Hsieh Nien 
Fan gala which I have included below. Like President Ma, I look forward 
to continuing to promote policies that reaffirm our mutual commitment 
to democratic and economic development.

       ``I am very pleased to be here today for AmCham's annual 
     Hsieh Nien Fan. This is a special occasion for me, because it 
     marks the 13th time that I have been invited to attend. But 
     there's also another reason why today is a very special day. 
     It's because tomorrow is April the 10th, and that marks the 
     36th anniversary of the date the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) 
     took effect.
       ``At the moment, U.S.-Taiwan relations are indeed the best 
     they have been in the 36 years since the TRA became 
     effective. Everyone in Taiwan, military and civilians, was 
     shocked back on December 16, 1978 when President Carter 
     announced on TV that the U.S. was breaking diplomatic 
     relations with the Republic of China. But three months later, 
     the U.S. Congress made significant amendments to the Carter 
     administration's Taiwan Enabling Act. Congress not only 
     changed the content of the Act, but also changed its name to 
     the Taiwan Relations Act.
       ``As you all know, based on existing international law, an 
     unrecognized country loses its status as a legal entity in 
     the United States. It therefore cannot engage in any legal 
     proceedings due to the lack of a judicial personality. But 
     the TRA not only sees Taiwan as a foreign government for 
     purposes of U.S. law, but also allows Taiwan to initiate and 
     respond to judicial litigation. The TRA also allows the U.S. 
     government to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry. And the 
     property rights attached to our embassy and Twin Oaks estate 
     in Washington, DC also remained unaffected by the break in 
     diplomatic relations or de-recognition.
       ``Since I took office nearly seven years ago, mutual trust 
     between Taiwan and the United States at the highest levels of 
     government has been restored. Taiwan military procurement 
     from the U.S. has also exceeded U.S.$ 18.3 billion, the 
     highest it has been in any period over the past 20 years, and 
     twice what it was during my predecessor's term of office. And 
     in March of 2013, our countries resumed negotiations under 
     the 1994 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) as 
     we prepare to take a step-by-step ``building block'' approach 
     in promoting further trade liberalization.
       ``Last year, Taiwan and the U.S. forged even closer 
     cooperation in several areas. U.S. Secretary of Commerce 
     statistics show that last year, Taiwan-U.S. trade in goods 
     reached U.S.$ 67.4 billion. That allowed Taiwan to surpass 
     India and Saudi Arabia to become the United States' 10th 
     largest trading partner. At the same time, the U.S. once 
     again surpassed Japan to become Taiwan's second largest 
     trading partner. Last month, Taiwan companies also flocked to 
     the U.S. government's SelectUSA 2015 Investment Summit, and 
     overall, the Taiwan contingent was the second largest group 
     in attendance.
       ``In addition to our interaction in the economic and trade 
     arenas, official contacts between Taiwan and the U.S. have 
     also continued. In December of last year, President Obama 
     signed the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2014, agreeing to 
     sell the ROC four Perry-class frigates. High-level U.S. 
     officials also visited here, most notably U.S. Environmental 
     Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, who came to 
     Taiwan in April last year. She was the first U.S. Cabinet-
     level official to visit us in 14 years.
       ``This year, in February, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State 
     for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel stated that 
     over the past few years, developments in Taiwan-U.S. 
     relations have been productive. He also said that those 
     developments were closely related to the improvement in 
     cross-strait relations. He also expressed that the U.S. hopes 
     to see the continued positive development of cross-strait 
     relations.
       ``So ever since the Cold War began, this was the first time 
     that the United States did not have to choose sides when 
     handling cross-strait relations. Nor did mainland China or 
     Taiwan have to face that kind of predicament. This highlights 
     our efforts in the realm of cross-strait relations over the 
     past few years, as both ROC-U.S. and cross-strait relations 
     have become more harmonious. As this kind of interaction has 
     transformed Taiwan's cross-strait and international 
     relations, the vicious cycle of the past is gone, and we're 
     moving ahead under the virtuous cycle of today.
       ``In truth, the Republic of China and the U.S. have a long 
     and storied relationship. Now, I would like to tell you two 
     stories to illustrate our friendship.
       ``The first story I want to tell occurred at the very 
     beginning of the 20th century. In 1901, one year after the 
     so-called Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Empire and the United 
     States signed the Boxer Protocol, which paid U.S.$ 24.4 
     million to the U.S.--known as the Boxer Indemnity. In his 
     State of the Union Address in 1907, President Theodore 
     Roosevelt stated that part of the Boxer Indemnity should be 
     returned to China. In 1924, an executive order by U.S. 
     President Coolidge returned the other portions of the Boxer 
     Indemnity. So by that time, the U.S. had returned about 95% 
     of the Indemnity to the Republic of China, making a 
     tremendous contribution to cultivating human talent. The 
     Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program provided funds that 
     helped many people who became the pillars of the Republic of 
     China. And what the U.S. did also had an effect in Europe, 
     where Holland used Boxer Indemnity funds to set up a China 
     Research Program at Leiden University. That made Leiden 
     University a strategic center for research on China, and 
     fostered several generations of talented individuals. That 
     soon became the norm, and the United Kingdom, France, Russia, 
     and Japan all followed suit.
       ``The second story took place 75 years ago. This year is 
     the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the 
     Republic of China's victory in the War of Resistance against 
     Japan. During the course of World War II, the U.S. government 
     and citizens not only gave the Republic of China substantive 
     assistance, but also proved to be staunch friends. That hard-
     fought War of Resistance between the Republic of China and 
     Japanese forces lasted for eight long years. For the first 
     four years, our soldiers fought virtually alone, without any 
     assistance from outside sources. During that period, however, 
     the U.S. provided indirect assistance. And the most inspiring 
     example of that assistance came from the American Volunteer 
     Group--the AVG--which was later absorbed by the Fourteenth 
     Army Air Force in China. That unit became known far and wide 
     by their nickname: The Flying Tigers. They came to represent 
     Chinese-American cooperation. When the Flying Tigers had been 
     in China for less than a year, they had already downed at 
     least 200 Japanese war planes. That allowed the Chinese Air 
     Force, which was on its last legs, to slowly recover its 
     fighting capabilities. So in November of 1943, at the Battle 
     of Changde in Hunan Province, the U.S. Fourteenth Army Air 
     Force in China joined forces with our own air force to form 
     the Chinese-American Composite Wing. Working together, they 
     brought down 25 Japanese planes, with another 14 planes 
     listed as possibly shot down, and 19 additional Japanese 
     planes damaged. The Japanese Air Force didn't dare return to 
     challenge them again. And just when the forces defending 
     Changde were in dire straits, the composite air forces air-
     dropped ammunition, rice, and pork for those ground troops. 
     They also dispatched operatives to the battlefields who filed 
     hourly intelligence reports to General Claire Lee Chennault. 
     That allowed the General to direct the Flying Tigers to 
     attack Japanese forces that mounted offensives, and also 
     leverage victories by bombing defeated Japanese troops even 
     as they retreated.
       ``So this year, we will be commemorating the 70th 
     anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan 
     with various activities. We have decided to invite General 
     Chennault's granddaughter, and descendants

[[Page E519]]

     of General James Doolittle, who was famous for his bombing 
     raid on Tokyo. We want to invite those descendants to 
     participate in some activities, and also take advantage of 
     this face-to-face meeting to thank their forbearers for their 
     contributions to the Republic of China.
       ``For the Republic of China, from the beginning of the last 
     century and up into the 1930s, 1940s, and even all the 
     historical periods I didn't mention here today, there has 
     been one constant: Our history, the history of the Republic 
     of China, has been intimately linked with that of the United 
     States. So my fondest hope is that we can build on the 
     foundation of friendship that we've forged over more than a 
     century, continue our cooperation, and strengthen our 
     relationship. And that we can continue to make progress--in 
     politics and economics, and in terms of our social, 
     educational, and cultural interaction. As partners in 
     progress, we can create a more beautiful future, and continue 
     to write the history of tomorrow.''

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