[115th Congress Public Law 135]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



[[Page 132 STAT. 341]]

Public Law 115-135
115th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, 
     and for other purposes. <<NOTE: Mar. 16, 2018 -  [H.R. 535]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Taiwan Travel 
Act.>> 
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--

[[Page 132 STAT. 342]]

            (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.

    Approved March 16, 2018.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 535:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 164 (2018):
            Jan. 9, considered and passed House.
            Feb. 28, considered and passed Senate.

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