The island of Taiwan, governed by the Republic of China (ROC), is located about 100 miles east of mainland China in the East China Sea. The ROC government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after fighting a civil war with Mao Zedong and the Communist Chinese Party. Since then, the ROC has exercised effective control over Taiwan and several outlying islands. The people of this democratic country believe they are a sovereign nation, but Communist China steadfastly maintains that Taiwan is part of China. It has threatened a forceful reunification if necessary.

China refuses to have diplomatic relations with any country which recognizes Taiwan. Only Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland and Tuvalu have embassies in Taiwan. Due to Chinese pressure, we broke off relations with Taiwan when we terminated our mutual defense treaty in 1979. But in 2019, much to China’s chagrin, we signed a consular agreement formalizing existent consular relations. Our Health and Human Services Secretary then made a formal visit to Taiwan the following year, angering China considerably. Although our relationship with Taiwan is still informal and unofficial, we continue to allocate about $50 billion to the ROC each year. Of this amount, about %15 billion is in military assistance and $35 billion is in economic aid.

Proposed Legislation: S.1054 - Taiwan Relations Reinforcement Act of 2021
Prospective Sponsor: Sen. Marco Rubio (FL)
Status: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Cahir: Sen. Bob Menendez (NJ)