Volume 161, No. 55 covering the 1st Session of the 114th Congress (2015 - 2016) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“COMMEMORATING THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E518-E519 on April 16, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
COMMEMORATING THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT
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HON. LUKE MESSER
of indiana
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). The U.S.-Taiwan bilateral relationship has expanded and grown stronger since the TRA was signed into law in 1979. I recently returned from Taiwan where I experienced firsthand our shared values and close economic ties. Last year, Taiwan was the United States' 10th largest trading partner. My home state of Indiana has also benefited from these commercial partnerships and was the first state to establish a trade office in Taiwan. On April 9th, President Ma Ying-jeou shared his insight on our bilateral relations in his remarks at the AmCham's annual Hsieh Nien Fan gala which I have included below. Like President Ma, I look forward to continuing to promote policies that reaffirm our mutual commitment to democratic and economic development.
``I am very pleased to be here today for AmCham's annual Hsieh Nien Fan. This is a special occasion for me, because it marks the 13th time that I have been invited to attend. But there's also another reason why today is a very special day. It's because tomorrow is April the 10th, and that marks the 36th anniversary of the date the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) took effect.
``At the moment, U.S.-Taiwan relations are indeed the best they have been in the 36 years since the TRA became effective. Everyone in Taiwan, military and civilians, was shocked back on December 16, 1978 when President Carter announced on TV that the U.S. was breaking diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. But three months later, the U.S. Congress made significant amendments to the Carter administration's Taiwan Enabling Act. Congress not only changed the content of the Act, but also changed its name to the Taiwan Relations Act.
``As you all know, based on existing international law, an unrecognized country loses its status as a legal entity in the United States. It therefore cannot engage in any legal proceedings due to the lack of a judicial personality. But the TRA not only sees Taiwan as a foreign government for purposes of U.S. law, but also allows Taiwan to initiate and respond to judicial litigation. The TRA also allows the U.S. government to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry. And the property rights attached to our embassy and Twin Oaks estate in Washington, DC also remained unaffected by the break in diplomatic relations or de-recognition.
``Since I took office nearly seven years ago, mutual trust between Taiwan and the United States at the highest levels of government has been restored. Taiwan military procurement from the U.S. has also exceeded U.S.$ 18.3 billion, the highest it has been in any period over the past 20 years, and twice what it was during my predecessor's term of office. And in March of 2013, our countries resumed negotiations under the 1994 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) as we prepare to take a step-by-step ``building block'' approach in promoting further trade liberalization.
``Last year, Taiwan and the U.S. forged even closer cooperation in several areas. U.S. Secretary of Commerce statistics show that last year, Taiwan-U.S. trade in goods reached U.S.$ 67.4 billion. That allowed Taiwan to surpass India and Saudi Arabia to become the United States' 10th largest trading partner. At the same time, the U.S. once again surpassed Japan to become Taiwan's second largest trading partner. Last month, Taiwan companies also flocked to the U.S. government's SelectUSA 2015 Investment Summit, and overall, the Taiwan contingent was the second largest group in attendance.
``In addition to our interaction in the economic and trade arenas, official contacts between Taiwan and the U.S. have also continued. In December of last year, President Obama signed the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2014, agreeing to sell the ROC four Perry-class frigates. High-level U.S. officials also visited here, most notably U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy, who came to Taiwan in April last year. She was the first U.S. Cabinet-level official to visit us in 14 years.
``This year, in February, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel stated that over the past few years, developments in Taiwan-U.S. relations have been productive. He also said that those developments were closely related to the improvement in cross-strait relations. He also expressed that the U.S. hopes to see the continued positive development of cross-strait relations.
``So ever since the Cold War began, this was the first time that the United States did not have to choose sides when handling cross-strait relations. Nor did mainland China or Taiwan have to face that kind of predicament. This highlights our efforts in the realm of cross-strait relations over the past few years, as both ROC-U.S. and cross-strait relations have become more harmonious. As this kind of interaction has transformed Taiwan's cross-strait and international relations, the vicious cycle of the past is gone, and we're moving ahead under the virtuous cycle of today.
``In truth, the Republic of China and the U.S. have a long and storied relationship. Now, I would like to tell you two stories to illustrate our friendship.
``The first story I want to tell occurred at the very beginning of the 20th century. In 1901, one year after the so-called Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Empire and the United States signed the Boxer Protocol, which paid U.S.$ 24.4 million to the U.S.--known as the Boxer Indemnity. In his State of the Union Address in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt stated that part of the Boxer Indemnity should be returned to China. In 1924, an executive order by U.S. President Coolidge returned the other portions of the Boxer Indemnity. So by that time, the U.S. had returned about 95% of the Indemnity to the Republic of China, making a tremendous contribution to cultivating human talent. The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program provided funds that helped many people who became the pillars of the Republic of China. And what the U.S. did also had an effect in Europe, where Holland used Boxer Indemnity funds to set up a China Research Program at Leiden University. That made Leiden University a strategic center for research on China, and fostered several generations of talented individuals. That soon became the norm, and the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and Japan all followed suit.
``The second story took place 75 years ago. This year is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the Republic of China's victory in the War of Resistance against Japan. During the course of World War II, the U.S. government and citizens not only gave the Republic of China substantive assistance, but also proved to be staunch friends. That hard-fought War of Resistance between the Republic of China and Japanese forces lasted for eight long years. For the first four years, our soldiers fought virtually alone, without any assistance from outside sources. During that period, however, the U.S. provided indirect assistance. And the most inspiring example of that assistance came from the American Volunteer Group--the AVG--which was later absorbed by the Fourteenth Army Air Force in China. That unit became known far and wide by their nickname: The Flying Tigers. They came to represent Chinese-American cooperation. When the Flying Tigers had been in China for less than a year, they had already downed at least 200 Japanese war planes. That allowed the Chinese Air Force, which was on its last legs, to slowly recover its fighting capabilities. So in November of 1943, at the Battle of Changde in Hunan Province, the U.S. Fourteenth Army Air Force in China joined forces with our own air force to form the Chinese-American Composite Wing. Working together, they brought down 25 Japanese planes, with another 14 planes listed as possibly shot down, and 19 additional Japanese planes damaged. The Japanese Air Force didn't dare return to challenge them again. And just when the forces defending Changde were in dire straits, the composite air forces air-dropped ammunition, rice, and pork for those ground troops. They also dispatched operatives to the battlefields who filed hourly intelligence reports to General Claire Lee Chennault. That allowed the General to direct the Flying Tigers to attack Japanese forces that mounted offensives, and also leverage victories by bombing defeated Japanese troops even as they retreated.
``So this year, we will be commemorating the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan with various activities. We have decided to invite General Chennault's granddaughter, and descendants of General James Doolittle, who was famous for his bombing raid on Tokyo. We want to invite those descendants to participate in some activities, and also take advantage of this face-to-face meeting to thank their forbearers for their contributions to the Republic of China.
``For the Republic of China, from the beginning of the last century and up into the 1930s, 1940s, and even all the historical periods I didn't mention here today, there has been one constant: Our history, the history of the Republic of China, has been intimately linked with that of the United States. So my fondest hope is that we can build on the foundation of friendship that we've forged over more than a century, continue our cooperation, and strengthen our relationship. And that we can continue to make progress--in politics and economics, and in terms of our social, educational, and cultural interaction. As partners in progress, we can create a more beautiful future, and continue to write the history of tomorrow.''
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