This year marks 20 years since the last time the US has done a Taiwan Policy Review. In 1994, President Clinton made adjustments to improve the unofficial relationship between US and Taiwan (read more here). In a letter dated September 23, 2014, 29 members of the House of Representative led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Edward Royce, address Secretary of State John Kerry to start the process of conducting a 2014 Taiwan Policy Review.
It starts:
[W]e feel strongly that there is a need today to undertake a new and thorough Taiwan Policy Review, laying the basis for further expanding relations with Taiwan and thereby enhancing continued peace and stability in the region.
It continues on to highlight the history of Taiwan and the importance of the support:
In 1979, when we shifted diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, Taiwan was ruled by a government claiming to represent China. When the United States conducted its last Taiwan Policy Review in 1994, Taiwan was just starting to emerge as a full democracy. […] Over these past two decades, the people of Taiwan have consolidated their democracy, and established a vibrant and pluralistic democracy in their country…
This effort was started with congressional visit from the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA). FAPA President Mark Kao, PhD states: “With the geopolitical shifts that have taken place in the Pacific during the past years, and with the 2013 U.S. rebalancing commitment to Asia, a second Taiwan Policy Review is overdue. Such a review should include a U.S. commitment: – to the principle that the future of Taiwan should be determined peacefully and by the people of Taiwan, – to U.S. support for Taiwan’s membership in all international organizations, – to the lifting of all restrictions on high-level visits from and to Taiwan, and to the sale of advanced weapons to Taiwan.”
Letter signed by:
| Ed Royce (R-CA) | Steve Chabot (R-OH) | Pete Sessions (R-TX) |
| Michael McCaul (R-TX) | Richard Hanna (R-NY) | Randy Weber (R-TX) |
| Paul Cook (R-CA) | Ted Yoho (R-FL) | Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) |
| Steve Stivers (R-OH) | Collin Peterson (D-MN) | Leonard Lance (R-NJ) |
| Bill Johnson (R-OH) | Scott Garrett (R-NJ) | Kenny Marchant (R-TX) |
| Luke Messer (R-IN) | James Lankford (R-OK) | Howard Coble (R-NC) |
| George Holding (R-NC) | Todd Rokita (R-IN) | Chris Smith (R-NJ) |
| Ted Poe (R-TX) | Matt Cartwright (D-PA) | David Schweikert (R-AZ) |
| Steve Stockman (R-TX) | Blake Farenthold (R-TX) | Marsha Backburn (R-TN) |
| J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) | Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) |
OFTaiwan 