The
bill is part of an ongoing effort in Congress and elsewhere in
Washington to boost the international profile of Taiwan, as
tensions escalate between the democratic-ruled island and China,
which claims it as sovereign territory.
The measure would require the State Department to provide
Congress with a strategy to secure diplomatic support for
Taiwan's membership, a promotion from its current observer
status.
The Senate has already passed legislation directing the State
Department to develop a strategy to assist Taiwan in obtaining
observer status at the World Health Assembly, the World Health
Organization's decision-making body.
"We are committed to continue working to ensure the United
States does everything in its power to champion Taiwan’s
international engagement and demonstrate our unwavering
commitment to the people of Taiwan," Senator Robert Menendez,
Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
said in a statement.
China in recent weeks has staged repeated air missions over the
Taiwan Strait, the waterway separating the island and the
mainland.
Menendez introduced the bill with Democratic Senators Tim Kaine
and Ed Markey and Republican Senators Jim Risch, Jim Inhofe and
Marco Rubio. Risch is the top Republican on the foreign
relations panel and Inhofe is the ranking Republican on the
Senate Armed Services Committee.
The lawmakers said Taiwan has demonstrated that it can play an
important role in the western hemisphere and contributes to the
growth of economies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Separately on Wednesday, President Joe Biden told Southeast
Asian nations the United States would stand with them in
defending freedom of the seas and democracy and called China's
actions toward Taiwan "coercive" and a threat to peace and
security.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Diane Craft)
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