For Immediate Release           June 24, 2004
HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE PASSES TRA LEGISLATION OPENING THE DOOR FOR FUTURE CHEN SHUI-BIAN DC VISIT

On June 24, the House International Relations Committee (HIRC) marked up HCR462 commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act. The resolution was introduced by HIRC chairman Henry Hyde and the Committee's ranking member Tom Lantos.

Cosponsors: Reps. James Leach, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Steve Chabot, Robert Wexler, Howard Berman, Gregory Meeks, Thaddeus McCotter, Jo Ann Davis, Chris Smith, Dana Rohrabacher, Shelley Berkley, Thomas Tancredo, Gary Ackerman, Joseph Hoeffel, Adam Schiff, Peter King, Ben Chandler, Charles Gonzalez, Michael McNulty, Mark Souder, John Shimkus, David Wu, Mark Kirk, and Peter Deutsch.

The resolution concludes: "Congress affirms its unwavering commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.) as the cornerstone of United States relations with Taiwan."

The resolution also concludes that: "The United States Government should not discourage current officials of the Taiwan Government from visiting the United States on the basis that doing so would violate the "one China policy."

FAPA President Ming-chi Wu, Ph.D. says: "We are glad that Chairman Hyde has finally introduced this resolution and that the Committee has finally marked it up. We understand that the Committee wanted to wait with moving on the resolution until all election disputes in Taiwan were solved. It is good to see that any doubt in the committee's mind about the election result has now disappeared."

Wu continues: "The reference to the TRA being "the cornerstone" of US-Taiwan relations is significant too, since the PRC continues to claim that the three US-PRC communiques prevail. Obviously, the US Congress agrees that the TRA is the law of the land which dictates the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, and not the three communiques."

"And finally, it is good to notice that this resolution goes on record stating that hi-level visits are not in conflict with the US "One China Policy." This opens the door for a future visit by President Chen to Washington DC."


   * * * * *