Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/16
By: Rita Cheng and Lilian Wu

Washington, June 15 (CNA) A bill to encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels was passed unanimously by a U.S. House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Thursday in the first step toward its legislation.

The Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific passed the Taiwan Travel Act (H.R. 535), which was initiated by Rep. Steve Chabot and co-sponsored by Representatives Brad Sherman and Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The United States government should encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels,” the bill states.

It says that since the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979, ties between the United States and Taiwan have suffered from insufficient high-level communication due to the self-imposed restrictions that the United States maintains on visits by high ranking officials to Taiwan. The bill, which seeks to eliminate such restrictions, will now be sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for approval.
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