The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition.
“It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.”
The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade agreement, the newspaper said.
The US Capitol in Washington is pictured on Wednesday.
Photo: Bloomberg
Tiffany said in a separate interview with New Tang Dynasty TV on Wednesday that he thinks Taiwan should be recognized as a free, democratic and peace-loving nation.
“There are more and more people in [the US] Congress that are understanding how important Taiwan is, and how important it is that we recognize Taiwan, and that we trade with Taiwan,” he told the channel.
Separately, US arms sales to Taiwan are expected to be a key issue for the newly created US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, a report published by the Roll Call newspaper said on Tuesday.
“How do we prevent Taiwan’s future from becoming Ukraine’s present? I think it is going to be a theme of what we do on this committee,” US Representative Mike Gallagher, who chairs the committee, told the newspaper in an interview.
Gallagher also said that he would examine the reasons for a US$18 billion backlog of military equipment that has been approved for sale to Taiwan.
US sectors that “may be too economically dependent on China” or “corrupted by Chinese money and influence operations” would be scrutinized by the committee, Gallagher said.
Chinese property acquisitions near US military bases and suspected Chinese police outposts in the country would also be addressed, he said.
Discussions on Chinese police operating overseas would also include Beijing’s efforts to “coerce or apply pressure to Chinese citizens living abroad,” as well as Americans of Chinese descent, he added.
The committee would also discuss banning social media app TikTok and other topics, he said.
Members of the committee would make policy recommendations, suggest policy changes and highlight initiatives led by allies in the Indo-Pacific region, Gallagher said.
However, funding would be outside the committee’s purview, he added.
Source: Taipei Times - 2023/01/27
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