A key supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress has invited President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to visit Washington before the end of his presidential term.
The invitation came in a letter that the Republican congressman, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, sent to Chen congratulating Taiwan on its upcoming mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
While Taiwanese leaders have been banned from traveling to Washington by a succession of US administrations as a matter of policy, Tancredo pointed out in his letter that a law passed by Congress a decade ago specifically allows such visits.
The measure, which was signed into law by former president Clinton in September 1996, provides that when a Taiwanese president or other high-level official seeks a visa to visit the US for talks on a number of economic and security issues with US leaders, "the official shall be admitted to the United States."
Backers of the law interpret that wording to include visits to Washington.
"I hope you will consider planning a visit to Washington DC, before the end of your term," Tancredo said in his letter to Chen. "I look forward to meeting with you here in Washington someday soon."
In the letter, Tancredo congratulated Chen and the people of Taiwan for laying the groundwork for "yet another round of free, fair and open democratic elections in your country."
The congressman, who himself won re-election in last month's Congressional by-elections, quoted US President George W. Bush's comments in Kyoto last year when he lauded Taiwan's democracy and said it should stand as a model for China and others in the region.
"Like President Bush," Tancredo said, "I hope that mainland China can emulate Taiwan's political example and establish a modern and democratic political system that respects human rights, and whose leaders derive their power from the people they govern."
Meanwhile, Congress returned to Washington for what is slated to be a one-week post-election session to tie up some loose ends, before going home for the last time as the 109th Congress. The 110th Congress begins on Jan. 4.
The House has scheduled a vote later this week on a bill to transfer two minesweepers to Taiwan as part of a larger minesweeper sale, but this week's brief lame duck session is expected to be too short for other pending Taiwan-related legislation to move forward.
Taiwan's lobbyists and supporters in Congress had earlier hoped that action could be taken on a number of measures to enhance military cooperation between the US and Taiwan, and to loosen the arcane rules that limit official contacts between Taiwan representatives in Washington and officials at the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies.
The brevity of the current session all but dashes such expectations.
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