Two US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill calling on Washington to support Taiwan’s participation as a member of the IMF to ensure its voice is heard on international financial issues.
The “Taiwan non-discrimination act” — introduced by US Representative Young Kim, who is on the US House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees, and US Representative Al Green — seeks to ensure that the US representative on the IMF board of governors advocates for Taiwan’s admission in the international financial institution.
The bill also calls for Taiwan’s participation in the organization’s regular surveillance activities relating to Taiwan’s economic and financial policies, job opportunities for Taiwanese at the IMF, and a provision for IMF technical assistance and training for Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
“As the 21st-largest economy in the world and the 10th-largest goods trading partner of the United States, Taiwan deserves a seat at the IMF,” Kim said in a statement released on Thursday.
“For far too long, Taiwan’s freedoms have been suppressed and voice has been silenced by the Chinese Communist Party. The Taiwan non-discrimination act helps right this wrong and ensures Taiwan’s voice is heard in international financial decisions,” she said.
Kim said that she and Green would fight to pass the bill.
“I will always be a loud voice in Congress for our freedom-loving allies,” she added.
Green said in the statement that the bill requires the US’ IMF representative to use the voice and vote of the US to urge Taiwan’s participation and membership in the IMF.
“As a leading world economy, Taiwan’s experience in promoting sound economic policies can be instrumental in helping the IMF achieve its mission. Thus, it deserves a seat at the table,” he said.
“My hope is that this bill will help steer it toward that direction,” he said.
A bill to promote Taiwan’s membership in the IMF was previously introduced in May 2020 by then-US representative Anthony Gonzalez, who did not run for re-election last year.
In November last year, Gonzalez and Green again presented a bill with the same goal, but it failed to pass the House.
The IMF is a global organization of 190 members that promotes the health of the world economy.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US