A bill to direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other purposes.

116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 249 AN ACT To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, 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 2 † S 249 ES SECTION 1. PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD 1 HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 3 ings: 4 (1) The World Health Organization (WHO) is 5 a specialized agency of the United Nations, charged 6 with coordinating health efforts within the United 7 Nations system. The World Health Assembly 8 (WHA) is the decision-making body of the WHO, 9 which convenes annually in May to set the policies 10 and priorities of the organization. Statehood is not 11 a requirement for attendance at the WHA, and nu- 12 merous observers, including non-members and non- 13 governmental organizations, attended the most re- 14 cent WHA in May 2018. 15 (2) Taiwan began seeking to participate in the 16 WHO as an observer in 1997. In 2009, with strong 17 support from successive United States Administra- 18 tions, Congress, and like-minded WHO Member 19 States, and during a period of improved Cross-Strait 20 relations, Taiwan received an invitation to attend 21 the WHA as an observer under the name ‘‘Chinese 22 Taipei’’. Taiwan received the same invitation each 23 year until 2016, when following the election of Presi- 24 dent Tsai-Ing Wen of the Democratic Progressive 25 Party, Taiwan’s engagement in the international 26 3 † S 249 ES community began facing increased resistance from 1 the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan’s in- 2 vitation to the 2016 WHA was received late and in- 3 cluded new language conditioning Taiwan’s partici- 4 pation on the PRC’s ‘‘one China principle’’. In 2017 5 and 2018, Taiwan did not receive an invitation to 6 the WHA. 7 (3) Taiwan remains a model contributor to 8 world health, having provided financial and technical 9 assistance to respond to numerous global health 10 challenges. Taiwan has invested over 11 $6,000,000,000 in international medical and human- 12 itarian aid efforts impacting over 80 countries since 13 1996. In 2014, Taiwan responded to the Ebola crisis 14 by donating $1,000,000 and providing 100,000 sets 15 of personal protective equipment. Through the Glob- 16 al Cooperation and Training Framework, the United 17 States and Taiwan have jointly conducted training 18 programs for experts to combat MERS, Dengue 19 Fever, and Zika. These diseases know no borders, 20 and Taiwan’s needless exclusion from global health 21 cooperation increases the dangers presented by glob- 22 al pandemics. 23 (4) Taiwan’s international engagement has 24 faced increased resistance from the PRC. Taiwan 25 4 † S 249 ES was not invited to the 2016 Assembly of the Inter- 1 national Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), despite 2 participating as a guest at the organization’s prior 3 summit in 2013. Taiwan’s requests to participate in 4 the General Assembly of the International Criminal 5 Police Organization (INTERPOL) have also been 6 rejected. In May 2017, PRC delegates disrupted a 7 meeting of the Kimberley Process on conflict dia- 8 monds held in Perth, Australia, until delegates from 9 Taiwan were asked to leave. Since 2016, the Demo- 10 cratic Republic of Sa˜o Tome´ and Prı´ncipe, the Re- 11 public of Panama, the Solomon Islands, the Republic 12 of Kiribati, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, 13 and the Republic of El Salvador have terminated 14 longstanding diplomatic relationships with Taiwan 15 and granted diplomatic recognition to the PRC. 16 (5) Congress has established a policy of support 17 for Taiwan’s participation in international bodies 18 that address shared transnational challenges, par- 19 ticularly in the WHO. Congress passed H.R. 1794 20 in the 106th Congress, H.R. 428 in the 107th Con- 21 gress, and S. 2092 in the 108th Congress to direct 22 the Secretary of State to establish a strategy for, 23 and to report annually to Congress on, efforts to ob- 24 tain observer status for Taiwan at the WHA. Con- 25 5 † S 249 ES gress also passed H.R. 1151 in the 113th Congress, 1 directing the Secretary to report on a strategy to 2 gain observer status for Taiwan at the ICAO Assem- 3 bly, and H.R. 1853 in the 114th Congress, directing 4 the Secretary to report on a strategy to gain ob- 5 server status for Taiwan at the INTERPOL Assem- 6 bly. However, since 2016 Taiwan has not received 7 an invitation to attend any of these events as an ob- 8 server. 9 (b) AUGMENTATION OF REPORT CONCERNING THE 10 PARTICIPATION OF TAIWAN IN THE WORLD HEALTH OR- 11 GANIZATION.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 1 13 of Public Law 108–235 (118 Stat. 656) is amended 14 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(3) An account of the changes and improve- 16 ments the Secretary of State has made to the 17 United States plan to endorse and obtain observer 18 status for Taiwan at the World Health Assembly, 19 following any annual meetings of the World Health 20 Assembly at which Taiwan did not obtain observer 21 status.’’. 22 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 23 by paragraph (1) shall take effect and apply begin- 24 ning with the first report required under subsection 25 6 † S 249 ES (c) of section 1 of Public Law 108–235 that is sub- 1 mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act. 2 SEC. 2. BRIEFING ON UNITED STATES STRATEGY REGARD- 3 ING TAIWAN’S INTERNATIONAL RECOGNI- 4 TION. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 6 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 7 thereafter for three years, the Secretary of State, or the 8 Secretary’s designee, shall provide to the appropriate con- 9 gressional committees a briefing on actions taken by the 10 United States to reaffirm and strengthen Taiwan’s official 11 and unofficial diplomatic relationships. 12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The briefing required by subsection 13 (a) shall include the following elements: 14 (1) A description of the actions taken by the 15 United States commencing May 20, 2016, to consult 16 with governments around the world, including the 17 governments that maintain official diplomatic rela- 18 tions with Taiwan, with the purpose of inducing 19 those governments to maintain official diplomatic re- 20 lations with Taiwan or otherwise strengthen unoffi- 21 cial relations with Taiwan. 22 (2) An enumeration of specific countries of con- 23 cern, if any, and a description of the actions taken, 24 or actions anticipated, by those governments, com- 25 7 † S 249 ES mencing May 20, 2016, to alter the formal diplo- 1 matic ties with Taiwan or to otherwise downgrade 2 official or unofficial relations. 3 (3) A plan of action to engage with the govern- 4 ments of the countries identified in paragraphs (1) 5 and (2) and increase cooperation with respect to 6 Taiwan. 7 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 8 In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 9 mittees’’ means— 10 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 11 Senate; and 12 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 13 House of Representatives. 14 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 15 THE ASIA REASSURANCE INITIATIVE ACT. 16 It is the sense of Congress that the full and timely 17 implementation of section 209 of the Asia Reassurance 18 Initiative Act (Public Law 115–409), which reiterates 19 8 † S 249 ES longstanding bipartisan United States policy, is critical to 1 demonstrate United States support for Taiwan. 2 Passed the Senate May 11, 2020. Attest: Secretary. 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 249 AN ACT To direct the Secretary of State to develop a strat- egy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, and for other pur- poses.