[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 164 (Thursday, October 12, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MARKUP

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2017

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. 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.

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