Summary
# STAND with Taiwan Act of 2023 (H.R. 2372)
## WHAT THIS BILL DOES
This bill requires the United States to impose severe economic and financial sanctions on China if the People's Liberation Army invades Taiwan. The sanctions would target Chinese government officials, military leaders, financial institutions and companies. The bill aims to deter a military invasion by making clear that such an action would have catastrophic economic consequences for China.
## WHO IT AFFECTS
* Chinese government officials and military leaders
* Members of the Chinese Communist Party
* Chinese financial institutions and banks
* Chinese companies and state-owned entities
* U.S. financial institutions and investment companies
* U.S. securities exchanges and brokers
* U.S. importers of Chinese goods
* The President and federal agencies implementing the sanctions
## KEY PROVISIONS
* The President must determine within 24 hours whether a military invasion of Taiwan has occurred, or Congress may make this determination through a joint resolution (Sec. 6)
* Within 3 days of confirming an invasion, the President must impose sanctions blocking all property and assets of specified Chinese officials and Communist Party members in the United States (Sec. 7)
* The President must prohibit U.S. financial institutions from investing in Chinese economic sectors including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, aerospace equipment, telecommunications and surveillance technology (Sec. 12)
* Chinese securities must be banned from trading on U.S. stock exchanges within 3 days of an invasion determination (Sec. 11)
* All goods made in China must be prohibited from entering U.S. ports, with exceptions only for items necessary to U.S. national security, economic security or public health (Sec. 13)
* Chinese banks must have their U.S. assets frozen and be prohibited from maintaining bank accounts in the United States (Sec. 8)
## WHAT CHANGES
If this bill becomes law and China invades Taiwan, the following would automatically occur within days: Chinese officials cannot travel to or be admitted to the United States. Their U.S. bank accounts and property would be frozen. Chinese government-affiliated banks and companies would be cut off from U.S. financial markets. U.S. investors would be barred from investing in Chinese technology and manufacturing sectors. Chinese goods would be stopped at U.S. ports. Chinese securities could not be traded on American stock exchanges.
## IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
* **Military Invasion**: Includes amphibious landings, airborne operations, aerial bombardment, blockades, missile attacks and attacks on any territory controlled by Taiwan's government (Sec. 5)
* **Covered Determination**: Either the President's determination within 24 hours that an invasion occurred, or Congress passing a joint resolution making that determination (Sec. 6)
* **United States Person**: A U.S. citizen, permanent resident or any company organized under U.S. law (Sec. 5)
* **Financial Institution**: Banks and credit unions as defined in federal banking law (Sec. 5)
## EFFECTIVE DATE
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 2372
To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to the People’s Republic
of China if the People’s Liberation Army initiates a military invasion
of Taiwan.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 29, 2023
Mr. GALLAGHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Finan-
cial Services, Ways and Means, the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to the
People’s Republic of China if the People’s Liberation
Army initiates a military invasion of Taiwan.
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 ‘‘Sanctions Targeting
4
Aggressors of Neighboring Democracies with Taiwan Act
5
of 2023’’ or the ‘‘STAND with Taiwan Act of 2023’’.
6
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•HR 2372 IH
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress makes the following findings:
2
(1) Taiwan is a free and prosperous democracy
3
of nearly 24,000,000 people, an important contrib-
4
utor to peace and stability around the world, and
5
continues to embody and promote democratic values,
6
freedom, and human rights in Asia.
7
(2) The policy of the United States toward Tai-
8
wan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act (22
9
U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), the United States-People’s Re-
10
public of China joint communique´s concluded in
11
1972, 1978, and 1982, and the Six Assurances that
12
President Ronald Reagan communicated to Taiwan
13
in 1982.
14
(3) Under section 2 of the Taiwan Relations
15
Act (22 U.S.C. 3301), it is the policy of the United
16
States—
17
(A) ‘‘to preserve and promote extensive,
18
close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and
19
other relations between the people of the United
20
States and the people on Taiwan, as well as the
21
people on the China mainland and all other peo-
22
ples of the Western Pacific area’’;
23
(B) ‘‘to declare that peace and stability in
24
the area are in the political, security, and eco-
25
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•HR 2372 IH
nomic interests of the United States, and are
1
matters of international concern’’;
2
(C) ‘‘to make clear that the United States
3
decision to establish diplomatic relations with
4
the People’s Republic of China rests upon the
5
expectation that the future of Taiwan will be
6
determined by peaceful means’’;
7
(D) ‘‘to consider any effort to determine
8
the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful
9
means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a
10
threat to the peace and security of the Western
11
Pacific area and of grave concern to the United
12
States’’;
13
(E) ‘‘to provide Taiwan with arms of a de-
14
fensive character’’; and
15
(F) ‘‘to maintain the capacity of the
16
United States to resist any resort to force or
17
other forms of coercion that would jeopardize
18
the security, or the social or economic system,
19
of the people on Taiwan’’.
20
(4) For decades and increasingly since the elec-
21
tion of President Tsai Ing-wen as President of Tai-
22
wan in 2016, the Chinese Communist Party has em-
23
ployed a variety of coercive military and nonmilitary
24
tactics short of armed conflict in its efforts to exert
25
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•HR 2372 IH
existential pressure on Taiwan, including through
1
diplomatic
isolation,
restricting
tourism,
2
cyberattacks, spreading disinformation, and control-
3
ling the ability of Taiwan to purchase COVID–19
4
vaccines from other countries.
5
(5) Since 2020, military incursions by the Peo-
6
ple’s Republic of China into Taiwan’s air defense
7
identification zone have been occurring at a rapidly
8
increasing pace. In 2022, such incursions occurred
9
1,700 times, nearly double the total in 2021, which
10
was itself almost triple the 2020 total.
11
(6) Since 2021, there has been a notable in-
12
crease in military provocations by the People’s Lib-
13
eration Army against Taiwan, including incursions
14
over the midline separating the People’s Republic of
15
China from Taiwan, holding military exercises in the
16
vicinity of Taiwan’s controlled waters, and per-
17
forming live-fire exercises in the South China Sea.
18
(7) In August 2022, the People’s Republic of
19
China held unprecedented live-fire military exercises
20
and a simulated blockade involving hundreds of mili-
21
tary aircraft, dozens of warships, and launches of
22
short-range ballistic missiles over the territory of
23
Taiwan.
24
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•HR 2372 IH
(8) The People’s Republic of China is attempt-
1
ing to erase the midline separating it from Taiwan,
2
increasing the prospects for incidental contact be-
3
tween forces of the People’s Republic of China and
4
Taiwan as well as shorting reaction times related to
5
provocations by the People’s Republic of China.
6
(9) On August 10, 2022, the Taiwan Affairs
7
Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic
8
of China released a white paper entitled ‘‘The Tai-
9
wan Question and China’s Reunification in the New
10
Era’’ that reiterated the long-standing position of
11
the Government of the People’s Republic of China
12
not to renounce the use of force to bring about unifi-
13
cation with Taiwan and to ‘‘always be ready to re-
14
spond with the use of force . . . to interference by
15
external forces or radical action by separatist ele-
16
ments’’.
17
(10) In March 2021, then Commander of the
18
United States Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip
19
Davidson testified that the threat of a military inva-
20
sion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army ‘‘is
21
manifest during this decade, in fact in the next six
22
years’’.
23
(11) In March 2021, then Commander of the
24
United States Pacific Fleet Admiral John Aquilino
25
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•HR 2372 IH
testified that the threat of a military invasion by the
1
People’s Liberation Army of Taiwan is ‘‘much closer
2
to us than most think’’ and could materialize well
3
before 2035.
4
(12) On February 24, 2022, the Armed Forces
5
of the Russian Federation initiated an unprovoked
6
and unjustified invasion of Ukraine, resulting in at
7
least 14,000 civilian casualties, including more than
8
5,000 deaths.
9
(13) The Russian Federation invasion has de-
10
stabilized global markets and supply chains, from
11
energy to food, contributing to high inflation and re-
12
cession in the United States and deep cuts to global
13
gross domestic product.
14
(14) With the assistance of the United States
15
and European allies, Ukrainian forces have success-
16
fully repelled the Russian Federation invasion and
17
recaptured significant portions of territory taken by
18
the Russian Federation in the initial stages of the
19
invasion.
20
(15) In addition to military power, timely mes-
21
saging around the use of economic and financial in-
22
struments of United States power and their poten-
23
tial use can have an important deterrent effect on
24
the actions of other countries.
25
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•HR 2372 IH
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
1
It is the sense of Congress that—
2
(1) it is in the interests of the United States to
3
maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region, with
4
peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as a critical
5
component;
6
(2) efforts by the Government of the People’s
7
Republic of China and the Chinese Communist
8
Party to unilaterally determine the future of Taiwan
9
through non-peaceful means, including threats and
10
the direct use of force, military coercion, economic
11
boycotts or embargoes, cyberattacks, and efforts to
12
internationally isolate or annex Taiwan—
13
(A) directly undermine the spirit, intent,
14
and purpose of the Taiwan Relations Act (22
15
U.S.C. 3301 et seq.);
16
(B) undermine peace and stability in the
17
Taiwan Strait;
18
(C) limit a free and open Indo-Pacific re-
19
gion; and
20
(D) are of grave concern to the Govern-
21
ment of the United States;
22
(3) the initiation of a military invasion of Tai-
23
wan by the People’s Liberation Army would—
24
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•HR 2372 IH
(A) constitute a threat to the peace and se-
1
curity of the Western Pacific Area and threaten
2
the peace stability of the entire globe; and
3
(B) undermine the core political, security,
4
and economic interests of the United States at
5
home and abroad; and
6
(4) as an important deterrent measure against
7
a military invasion of Taiwan, the Government of
8
the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese
9
Communist Party must understand that initiating
10
such an invasion will result in catastrophic economic
11
and financial consequences for the People’s Republic
12
of China.
13
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
14
The policy of the Government of the United States
15
on Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act (22
16
U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), the United States-People’s Republic
17
of China joint communique´s concluded in 1972, 1978, and
18
1982, and the Six Assurances that President Ronald
19
Reagan communicated to Taiwan in 1982, but in the event
20
of the initiation of a military invasion of Taiwan by the
21
People’s Liberation Army, it is the policy of the United
22
States—
23
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•HR 2372 IH
(1) to use and deploy all economic, commercial,
1
and financial instruments and levers of power, in-
2
cluding—
3
(A) the imposition of sanctions with re-
4
spect to leadership of the Chinese Communist
5
Party, key officials of the Government of the
6
People’s Republic of China, and financial insti-
7
tutions and other entities affiliated with the
8
Chinese Communist Party or the Government
9
of the People’s Republic of China;
10
(B) prohibiting the listing or trading of the
11
securities of Chinese entities on United States
12
securities exchanges;
13
(C) prohibiting investments by United
14
States financial institutions in economic sectors
15
of the People’s Republic of China; and
16
(D) prohibiting the importation of certain
17
goods mined, produced, or manufactured in the
18
People’s Republic of China into the United
19
States; and
20
(2) to work in close coordination with allies and
21
partners of the United States to encourage those al-
22
lies and partners to undertake similar economic,
23
commercial, and financial actions against the Gov-
24
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•HR 2372 IH
ernment of the People’s Republic of China and the
1
Chinese Communist Party.
2
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
3
In this Act:
4
(1) ACCOUNT; CORRESPONDENT ACCOUNT; PAY-
5
ABLE-THROUGH
ACCOUNT.—The terms ‘‘account’’,
6
‘‘correspondent account’’, and ‘‘payable-through ac-
7
count’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec-
8
tion 5318A of title 31, United States Code.
9
(2) ADMISSION; ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms
10
‘‘admission’’, ‘‘admitted’’, and ‘‘alien’’ have the
11
meanings given those terms in section 101 of the
12
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).
13
(3) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
14
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
15
mittees’’ means—
16
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations,
17
the Committee on Armed Services, and the
18
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
19
Affairs of the Senate; and
20
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the
21
Committee on Armed Services, and the Com-
22
mittee on Financial Services of the House of
23
Representatives.
24
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•HR 2372 IH
(4) COVERED
DETERMINATION.—The term
1
‘‘covered determination’’ has the meaning given that
2
term in section 6(a).
3
(5) FINANCIAL
INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘fi-
4
nancial institution’’ means a financial institution
5
specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), (E),
6
(F), (G), (H), (I), (J), (M), or (Y) of section
7
5312(a)(2) of title 31, United States Code.
8
(6) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-
9
son’’ means an individual or entity that is not a
10
United States person.
11
(7) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’ with
12
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result,
13
means that a person had actual knowledge, or
14
should have known, of the conduct, the cir-
15
cumstance, or the result.
16
(8) MILITARY INVASION.—The term ‘‘military
17
invasion’’ includes—
18
(A) an amphibious landing or assault;
19
(B) an airborne operation or air assault;
20
(C) an aerial bombardment or blockade;
21
(D) missile attacks, including rockets, bal-
22
listic missiles, cruise missiles, and hypersonic
23
missiles;
24
(E) a naval bombardment or blockade; and
25
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•HR 2372 IH
(F) attack on any territory controlled or
1
administered by the Government of Taiwan, in-
2
cluding offshore islands controlled or adminis-
3
tered by that Government.
4
(9)
UNITED
STATES
PERSON.—The
term
5
‘‘United States person’’ means—
6
(A) a United States citizen or an alien law-
7
fully admitted for permanent residence to the
8
United States; or
9
(B) an entity organized under the laws of
10
the United States or any jurisdiction within the
11
United States, including a foreign branch of
12
such an entity.
13
SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF THE INITIATION OF A MILI-
14
TARY INVASION BY THE PEOPLE’S LIBERA-
15
TION ARMY OR ITS PROXIES.
16
(a) COVERED DETERMINATION DEFINED.—In this
17
Act, the term ‘‘covered determination’’ means—
18
(1)
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]