Republican Dan Burton said Taiwan was a “true friend.”
“They [Taiwanese] have been with us through thick and thin. There have been times when I think we have not been as good a friend to them as we should have been,” he said.
Mario Diaz-Balart, another Florida Republican, said: “The people of Taiwan should know and the world should know that the US Congress stands with this strong and proud democracy.”
And Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican and ranking member of the Committee, said: “This resolution recognizes the TRA as the cornerstone of the unbreakable relations that exist today between the US and Taiwan.”
“We are reconfirming our commitment to strengthen the US-Taiwan relationship and our support for the defensive needs of the Taiwanese people. Taiwan has become a beacon of hope to all who aspire to democracy in the Chinese cultural world. Now more than ever, we must ensure that the people of Taiwan are provided with the defensive weapons needed to ensure that no sudden change in the status quo by the use of force undermines their political aspirations,” he said.
“Now more than ever, we must ensure that Congress is fully consulted on a regular basis on both our overall relations with Taiwan and our planned future arms sales,” she said, adding: “Let us send a strong, unequivocal message to Beijing that we are unwavering in our commitment to democracy, to free markets and to the people of Taiwan.”
In response to the resolution, Taiwan's de facto embassy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, released a statement saying it “deeply appreciated the bipartisan and uniform support of the US Congress.”
The Chinese government called on the US to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of China.
“Our position is consistent, we hope that the US side can support ... the one-China principle,” Fan Liqing (范麗青), spokeswoman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told journalists in a brief statement.
She was referring to diplomatic agreements between China and the US in which the US acknowledges Beijing's claim “that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
Congress passed the TRA after then-US president Jimmy Carter shifted recognition in 1979.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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