Taiwan Fellowship Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3084 To establish the Taiwan Fellowship Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2021 Mr. BERA (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CASE, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Mr. TAYLOR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To establish the Taiwan Fellowship Program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taiwan Fellowship 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The Taiwan Relations Act (Public Law 96– 8 8; 22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.) affirmed United States 9 policy ‘‘to preserve and promote extensive, close, and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3084 IH friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations be- 1 tween the people of the United States and the people 2 on Taiwan, as well as the people on the China main- 3 land and all other peoples of the Western Pacific 4 area’’. 5 (2) Consistent with the Asia Reassurance Ini- 6 tiative Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–409), the 7 United States has grown its strategic partnership 8 with Taiwan’s vibrant democracy of 23,000,000 peo- 9 ple. 10 (3) Despite a concerted campaign by the Peo- 11 ple’s Republic of China to isolate Taiwan from its 12 diplomatic partners and from international organiza- 13 tions, including the World Health Organization, Tai- 14 wan has emerged as a global leader in the 15 coronavirus global pandemic response, including by 16 donating more than 2,000,000 surgical masks and 17 other medical equipment to the United States. 18 (4) The creation of a United States fellowship 19 program with Taiwan would support— 20 (A) a key priority of expanding people-to- 21 people exchanges, which was outlined in Presi- 22 dent Donald J. Trump’s 2017 National Secu- 23 rity Strategy; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3084 IH (B) President Joseph R. Biden’s commit- 1 ment to Taiwan, ‘‘a leading democracy and a 2 critical economic and security partner’’, as ex- 3 pressed in his March 2021 Interim National Se- 4 curity Strategic Guidance; and 5 (C) April 2021 guidance from the Depart- 6 ment of State based on a review required under 7 the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 (subtitle B 8 of title III of division FF of Public Law 116– 9 260) to ‘‘encourage U.S. government engage- 10 ment with Taiwan that reflects our deepening 11 unofficial relationship’’. 12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 13 (1) to further strengthen the United States-Tai- 14 wan strategic partnership and broaden under- 15 standing of the Indo-Pacific region by temporarily 16 assigning officials of agencies of the United States 17 Government to Taiwan for intensive study in Man- 18 darin Chinese and placement as Fellows with the 19 governing authorities on Taiwan or a Taiwanese 20 civic institution; 21 (2) to expand United States Government exper- 22 tise in Mandarin Chinese language skills and under- 23 standing of the politics, history, and culture of Tai- 24 wan and the Indo-Pacific region by providing eligible 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3084 IH United States personnel the opportunity to acquire 1 such skills and understanding through the Taiwan 2 Fellowship Program established under section 3; and 3 (3) to better position the United States to ad- 4 vance its economic, security, and human rights in- 5 terests and values in the Indo-Pacific region. 6 SEC. 3. TAIWAN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) AGENCY HEAD.—The term ‘‘agency head’’ 9 means, in the case of the executive branch of United 10 States Government, or in the case of a legislative 11 branch agency specified in paragraph (2), the head 12 of the respective agency. 13 (2) AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERN- 14 MENT.—The term ‘‘agency of the United States 15 Government’’ includes the Government Account- 16 ability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the 17 Congressional Research Service, and the United 18 States-China Economic and Security Review Com- 19 mission of the legislative branch, as well as any 20 agency of the executive branch. 21 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 22 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 23 mittees’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3084 IH (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the Senate; 2 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 3 the Senate; 4 (C) the Committee on Appropriations of 5 the House of Representatives; and 6 (D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 7 the House of Representatives. 8 (4) DETAILEE.—The term ‘‘detailee’’ means an 9 employee of an agency of the United States Govern- 10 ment on loan to the American Institute in Taiwan, 11 without a change of position from the agency at 12 which such employee is employed. 13 (5) IMPLEMENTING PARTNER.—The term ‘‘im- 14 plementing partner’’ means any United States orga- 15 nization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Inter- 16 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax 17 under section 501(a) of such Code that— 18 (A) is selected through a competitive proc- 19 ess; 20 (B) performs logistical, administrative, and 21 other functions, as determined by the Depart- 22 ment of State and the American Institute of 23 Taiwan, in support of the Taiwan Fellowship 24 Program; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3084 IH (C) enters into a cooperative agreement 1 with the American Institute in Taiwan to ad- 2 minister the Taiwan Fellowship Program. 3 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF TAIWAN FELLOWSHIP PRO- 4 GRAM.— 5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State 6 shall establish the ‘‘Taiwan Fellowship Program’’ 7 (hereafter referred to in this section as the ‘‘Pro- 8 gram’’) to provide a fellowship opportunity in Tai- 9 wan of up to two years for eligible United States 10 citizens through the cooperative agreement estab- 11 lished in paragraph (2). The Department of State, 12 in consultation with the American Institute in Tai- 13 wan and the implementing partner, may modify the 14 name of the Program. 15 (2) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The American Institute 17 in Taiwan shall use amounts authorized to be 18 appropriated pursuant to subsection (f)(1) to 19 enter into an annual or multi-year cooperative 20 agreement with an appropriate implementing 21 partner. 22 (B) FELLOWSHIPS.—The Department of 23 State, in consultation with the American Insti- 24 tute in Taiwan and, as appropriate, the imple- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3084 IH menting partner, shall award to eligible United 1 States citizens, subject to available funding— 2 (i) not fewer than five fellowships dur- 3 ing the first two years of the Program; and 4 (ii) not fewer than ten fellowships 5 during each of the remaining years of the 6 Program. 7 (3) INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT; IMPLE- 8 MENTING PARTNER.—Not later than 30 days after 9 the date of the enactment of this Act, the American 10 Institute in Taiwan, in consultation with the Depart- 11 ment of State, shall— 12 (A) begin negotiations with the Taipei 13 Economic and Cultural Representative Office, 14 or with another appropriate entity, for the pur- 15 pose of entering into an agreement to facilitate 16 the placement of fellows in an agency of the 17 governing authorities on Taiwan; and 18 (B) begin the process of selecting an im- 19 plementing partner, which— 20 (i) shall agree to meet all of the legal 21 requirements required to operate in Tai- 22 wan; and 23 (ii) shall be composed of staff who 24 demonstrate significant experience man- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3084 IH aging exchange programs in the Indo-Pa- 1 cific region. 2 (4) CURRICULUM.— 3 (A) FIRST YEAR.—During the first year of 4 each fellowship under this subsection, each fel- 5 low should study— 6 (i) the Mandarin Chinese language; 7 (ii) the people, history, and political 8 climate on Taiwan; and 9 (iii) the issues affecting the relation- 10 ship between the United States and the 11 Indo-Pacific region. 12 (B) SECOND YEAR.—During the second 13 year of each fellowship under this section, each 14 fellow, subject to the approval of the Depart- 15 ment of State, the American Institute in Tai- 16 wan, and the implementing partner, and in ac- 17 cordance with the purposes of this Act, shall 18 work in— 19 (i) a parliamentary office, ministry, or 20 other agency of the governing authorities 21 on Taiwan; or 22 (ii) an organization outside of the gov- 23 erning authorities on Taiwan, whose inter- 24 ests are associated with the interests of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3084 IH fellow and the agency of the United States 1 Government from which the fellow had 2 been employed. 3 (5) FLEXIBLE FELLOWSHIP DURATION.—Not- 4 withstanding any requirement under this section, the 5 Secretary of State, in consultation with the Amer- 6 ican Institute in Taiwan and, as appropriate, the im- 7 plementing partner, may award fellowships that have 8 a duration of between nine months and two years, 9 and may alter the curriculum requirements under 10 paragraph (4) for such purposes. 11 (6) SUNSET.—The Program shall terminate ten 12 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 13 (c) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.— 14 (1) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—A United 15 States citizen is eligible for a fellowship under this 16 section if he or she— 17 (A) is an employee of the United States 18 Government; 19 (B) has received at least one exemplary 20 performance review in his or her current United 21 States Government role within at least the last 22 three years prior to the beginning the fellow- 23 ship; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3084 IH (C) has at least two years of experience in 1 any branch of the United States Government; 2 (D) has a demonstrated professional or 3 educational background in the relationship be- 4 tween the United States and countries in the 5 Indo-Pacific region; and 6 (E) has demonstrated his or her commit- 7 ment to further service in the United States 8 Government. 9 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF FELLOWS.—Each re- 10 cipient of a fellowship under this section shall agree, 11 as a condition of such fellowship— 12 (A) to maintain satisfactory progress in 13 language training and appropriate behavior in 14 Taiwan, as determined by the Department of 15 State, the American Institute in Taiwan and, as 16 appropriate, its implementing partner; 17 (B) to refrain from engaging in any intel- 18 ligence or intelligence-related activity on behalf 19 of the United States Government; and 20 (C) to continue Federal Government em- 21 ployment for a period of not less than four 22 years after the conclusion of the fellowship or 23 for not less than two years for a fellowship that 24 is one year or shorter. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3084 IH (3) RESPONSIBILITIES OF IMPLEMENTING 1 PARTNER.— 2 (A) SELECTION OF FELLOWS.—The imple- 3 menting partner, in close coordination with the 4 Department of State and the American Insti- 5 tute in Taiwan, shall— 6 (i) make efforts to recruit fellowship 7 candidates who reflect the diversity of the 8 United States; 9 (ii) select fellows for the Program 10 based solely on merit, with appropriate su- 11 pervision from the Department of State 12 and the American Institute in Taiwan; and 13 (iii) prioritize the selection of can- 14 didates willing to serve a fellowship lasting 15 one year or longer. 16 (B) FIRST YEAR.—The implementing part- 17 ner should provide each fellow in the first year 18 (or shorter duration, as jointly determined by 19 the Department of State and the American In- 20 stitute in Taiwan for those who are not serving 21 a two-year fellowship) with— 22 (i) intensive Mandarin Chinese lan- 23 guage training; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3084 IH (ii) courses in the politic, culture, and 1 history of Taiwan, China, and the broader 2 Indo-Pacific. 3 (C) WAIVER OF REQUIRED TRAINING.— 4 The Department of State, in coordination with 5 the American Institute in Taiwan and, as ap- 6 propriate, the implementing partner, may waive 7 any of the training required under subpara- 8 graph (B) to the extent that a fellow has Man- 9 darin Chinese language skills, knowledge of the 10 topic described in subparagraph (B)(ii), or for 11 other related reasons approved by the Depart- 12 ment of State and the American Institute in 13 Taiwan. If any of the training requirements are 14 waived for a fellow serving a two-year fellow- 15 ship, the training portion of his or her fellow- 16 ship may be shortened to the extent appro- 17 priate. 18 (D) OFFICE; STAFFING.—The imple- 19 menting partner, in consultation with the De- 20 partment of State and the American Institute 21 in Taiwan, shall maintain an office and at least 22 one full-time staff member in Taiwan— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3084.IH H3084 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3084 IH (i) to liaise with the American Insti- 1 tute in Taiwan and the governing authori- 2 ties on Taiwan; and 3 (ii) to serve as the primary in-country 4 point of contact for the recipients of fellow- 5 ships under this section and their depend- 6 ents. 7 (E) OTHER FUNCTIONS.—The imple- 8 menting partner should perform other functions 9 in association in support of the Progra [Text truncated for display. 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