A group of House Republicans is introducing legislation to assert Taiwan as the official name of the independently-governed island in U.S. communication, pushing back against claims to the territory by the Chinese government in Beijing.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) authored the “America Supports Taiwan Act” on Friday, legislation that would eliminate any reference to “Chinese Taipei” in U.S. communication and replace it with “Taiwan.” Reps. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) are co-sponsors. A copy of the legislation was exclusively shared with The Hill.
The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official U.S. stance is not to recognize or advocate for Taiwan’s independence. The U.S. rarely uses the term “Chinese Taipei,” although it has appeared in some government communication. Taiwan’s embassy in Washington is referred to as the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” — a nod to Beijing’s demands that the country not be referred to as Taiwan. The legislation does not address that office’s name.
The People’s Republic of China, the official name for the government in Beijing, opposes any international effort to recognize Taiwan’s independence, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has threatened to take over the island by force. Beijing put a trade embargo on Lithuania after it officially recognized the Taiwan representation in the country, as opposed to the Taipei economic office.
Donalds’s legislation aims to bolster U.S. policy supporting Taiwan against Chinese coercion or aggression which threatens its sovereignty.
The legislation “decries the United States Government’s use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ nomenclature, and instead favors the use of ‘Taiwan’, so as to avoid connotations of possession with the ‘Chinese Taipei’ term in English, and support resolution of cross-Strait differences by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait,” according to the text.
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