US Senate could examine resolution friendly to Taiwan

Efforts are afoot in Washington to have the Senate approve this week a resolution condemning the "Anti-Secession" Law that China enacted earlier this year, Taiwan's top representative in Washington indicated Tuesday.

The resolution, it is believed, would parallel a resolution that the House of Representatives passed by an overwhelming vote of 424-4 on March 16, which described the Chinese law as a matter of "grave concern" to the US and which urged the Bush administration to express US opposition to the law and "growing Chinese military threats" to Taiwan in all meetings with Chinese officials.

Two resolutions with nearly identical wording have been languishing in the Senate since about the time the House voted, and it was widely believed that both of the Senate bills were dead. The Senate has generally refused to approve such resolutions on behalf of Taiwan.

It was widely believed when the Senate measures were originally offered that they were blocked by opposition from California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a legislator generally favorable to China and whose family are long-time personal friends of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民).

After Feinstein's action, a third resolution was introduced by Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd as an amendment to a defense funding bill, but it was not adopted.

However, in a meeting Tuesday with Joseph Biden, the top Democrat in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Taiwan's de facto ambassador, David Lee (李大維), discussed reviving the resolution and the possibility of having it passed by the Senate before Congress goes out for a month-long recess next month.

Lee was asked about the meeting and the resolution during a monthly "tea party" press conference with Washington's Taiwanese press corps.

In an interview with the Taipei Times afterwards, Lee downplayed the significance of the discussion with Biden on the Anti-Secession Law resolution.

The meeting "was one of many meetings with Congress," he said. "It happens to be near the end of the [congressional pre-recess] session, so we tried to work out some unfinished business today," he said.

He said that he would know "in the next few days" whether the Senate would approve the bill.

"We hope the Senate will make a decision before they go to recess," he said.

Asked whether he was optimistic, Lee said, "I hope so; I'm constantly optimistic."

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