Press Releases

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), President Emeritus of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and John Curtis (R-UT) reintroduced the bipartisan Taiwan International Solidarity Act. The Members previously introduced the legislation in the 117th Congress.

In addition to Connolly and Curtis, the Taiwan International Solidarity Act is cosponsored by Representatives Ami Bera, Andy Barr, Mario Diaz-Balart, Dina Titus, Lisa McClain, and Brian Fitzpatrick.

“For too long, Beijing has distorted policies and procedures at the UN and related bodies to assert its sovereignty claims over Taiwan, often to the detriment of global health and security efforts,” said Connolly. “This bipartisan legislation ensures that we stand in solidarity with this critical U.S. partner.”

“The TAIPEI Act has greatly strengthened our relationship with Taiwan as both the Trump and Biden Administrations have worked to fulfill its mandate. However, since the bill’s signing last year, China has mounted pressure on international organizations to claim that Taiwan is part of China,” said Curtis. “This bill adds to the TAIPEI Act in a way that would counter these attempt.”

This legislation amends the TAIPEI Act, Congressman Curtis’s bill that was signed into law in March 2020, which countered China’s poaching of Taiwan’s allies and excluding Taiwan from international organizations. The Taiwan Solidarity Act expands on this to further counter China’s attempts to use international organizations to claim that Taiwan is part of China by distorting the language, policies, and procedures of international organizations. 

China has leveraged its growing influence in the United Nations (UN) and international organizations to exclude Taiwan’s participation in the international arena and has distorted UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to claim that the resolution recognized Taiwan as part of China.

As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) has withheld invitation to Taiwan to participate as an Observer at the World Health Assembly’s annual meetings and excluded Taiwan from the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which undoubtedly exacerbated the outbreak of COVID-19. 

In addition to excluding Taiwan’s membership, the International Civil Aviation Organization last year blocked the social media accounts of those criticizing the organization for this exclusion.