US representatives Young Kim and Al Green have proposed a bipartisan bill, the Taiwan non-discrimination act, calling for Taiwan’s membership in the IMF.
The bill calls for Taiwan’s participation in IMF activities, employment opportunities at the IMF for its citizens and for Taiwan to receive IMF assistance.
“We cannot allow the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to silence Taiwan’s voice and suppress Taiwan’s freedoms any longer,” Kim, a Republican from California, said in a news release issued on Tuesday.
Photo: Reuters
‘KEY PLAYER’
“Taiwan has long been a key player in the global economy, and its return to the IMF would benefit all nations involved. This bipartisan measure underscores our commitment to Taiwan’s growth and to strengthening democratic values worldwide,” said Green, a Texas Democrat.
As part of the rationale for supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the IMF, the bill cites Taiwan’s status as the world’s 21st-largest economy and the US’ 10th-largest trading partner in goods, as well as Taiwan’s participation in the WTO, Asian Development Bank and APEC forum, and its substantial foreign reserves.
Taiwan has been unjustly excluded from the IMF, as the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 states that “nothing in this act may be construed as a basis for supporting the exclusion or expulsion of Taiwan from continued membership in any international financial institution or any other international organization,” the proposed bill says.
Furthermore, Taiwan maintained its IMF membership for nine years after the US formally recognized the People’s Republic of China and admitted it to the IMF in 1980.
Kosovo, also not a member of the UN, has been a member of the IMF and the World Bank since June 2009, the proposed bill says.
US SUPPORT
For the bill to become a law, it must pass a vote in the US House of Representatives, then the US Senate and finally be signed into law by US President Donald Trump.
This is not the first time the two representatives have proposed such a bill. In January last year, the House passed a similar proposal regarding Taiwan’s IMF participation.
Prior to that, Kim led a bill that called for the US secretary of state to develop a strategy to restore Taiwan’s observer status in the WHO and the World Health Assembly.
The IMF, which has 191 members, promotes global financial stability and economic growth by providing financial assistance, policy advice and economic surveillance to members.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS