She is a fierce opponent of China's human rights violations and its political system, is favorably disposed to Taiwan and is expected to be very receptive to pro-Taiwan legislative activity.
The shift in the House will usher in a new slate of committee chairman, who are powerful arbiters of what bills advance and which issues warrant hearings and other attention and Taiwan could score some important points.
In the International Relations Committee, Chairman Henry Hyde, who has been one of Taiwan's most important supporters, is retiring this year and will be replaced by Representative Tom Lantos, an equally strong backer of Taipei.
Lantos was considered one of the Democrats most responsible for Lee's trip to Cornell.
A Holocaust survivor, Lantos is a leading force in human rights activism in Congress, and has long honored Taiwan's democratic movement.
In September last year, as chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, he presented President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with the caucus' annual human rights award in a teleconference from Washington to Miami, where Chen was transiting en route to Latin America.
Replacing Hyde as minority leader of the committee, according to observers, is expected to be either Representative Dan Burton or Representative Lleana Ros-Lehtinen.
Both have spoken regularly on Taiwan's behalf, and both sponsored a resolution last year calling on Bush to abandon the US' "one China" policy in favor of a policy "that recognizes the Republic of China on Taiwan as a sovereign government."
In trade matters, Taipei could stand to benefit from the elevation of Charles Rangel as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, with authority over trade issues. That might make it easier to get legislation favoring a free-trade agreement (FTA) through the committee and on to the House floor.
However, political observers note that the Democrats have generally taken a dim view of free-trade pacts, and, with the law that facilitated such pacts expiring in the middle of next year, a Taiwan-US FTA might be even harder to obtain under the Democrats.
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