Defund China’s Allies Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2511 To prohibit the availability of foreign assistance to certain countries that do not recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 6, 2023 Mr. OGLES (for himself, Mr. TIFFANY, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, and Mr. MOORE of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To prohibit the availability of foreign assistance to certain countries that do not recognize the sovereignty of Tai- wan, 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 ‘‘Defund China’s Allies 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The global political influence campaign of 8 the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has contrib- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2511 IH uted to numerous countries in Central America and 1 the Caribbean switching political allegiances from 2 Taiwan to China over the past several years. 3 (2) Costa Rica was the first Central American 4 country to abandon a political relationship with Tai- 5 wan in 2007. Panama chose to recognize the PRC 6 in 2017. El Salvador chose to cut ties with Taiwan 7 in 2018, over the latter’s unwillingness to fund a fi- 8 nancially unsustainable port. The Dominican Repub- 9 lic abandoned Taiwan that same year. In December 10 2021, the dictatorial Marxist government of Daniel 11 Ortega chose to sever ties with Taiwan, and in 12 March 2023, President Castro of Honduras, a fellow 13 Marxist, chose to do the same thing. 14 (3) Given the proximity of these countries to 15 the United States, these switches in political alle- 16 giances necessarily represent a more tangible threat 17 to United States national security interests and 18 must be confronted. 19 (4) United States efforts to condemn these 20 countries’ willing diplomatic shift toward a genocidal 21 government is undermined by an incomprehensible 22 adherence to the so-called ‘‘One China’’ policy, on 23 terms dictated by the Chinese Communist Party. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2511 IH (5) To pose a credible deterrence threat to the 1 People’s Republic of China, the United States must 2 first admit that the continuation of anachronistic 3 foreign policy—based on the idea that the Chinese 4 Communist Party is a responsible, good faith 5 actor—is no longer a reasonable or even rational 6 course of action. To that end, the United States 7 must support full diplomatic relations with Taiwan 8 and Taiwan’s full and unmitigated membership into 9 the international community. 10 (6) Good-faith assumptions about the Chinese 11 Communist Party that have lingered since the 1970s 12 have proven false. China has demonstrated its un- 13 willingness to work collaboratively with the inter- 14 national community, including through its efforts to 15 hijack the global market and the rules-based inter- 16 national order. China’s continued assault on the nat- 17 ural rights of the individual—including through the 18 ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs and other popu- 19 lations—highlight Beijing’s cruelty and its indiffer- 20 ence to the concept of basic human decency. 21 (7) The Chinese Communist Party has repeat- 22 edly utilized violence and the threat of violence to co- 23 erce Taiwan and undermine Taiwan’s democratically 24 elected government, in clear contradiction of existing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:32 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2511 IH United States law (the Taiwan Relations Act), which 1 reads: ‘‘the United States decision to establish diplo- 2 matic relations with the People’s Republic of China 3 rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan 4 will be determined by peaceful means’’. 5 (8) The CCP’s ongoing efforts to delegitimize 6 Taiwan, if not checked, increases the risk of armed 7 conflict by threatening to completely isolate Taiwan 8 from any political support; as a result, the United 9 States government must work to deter these malign 10 efforts and mitigate their effectiveness, including by 11 committing to the following: 12 (A) Establishing full diplomatic ties with 13 Taiwan. 14 (B) Imposing restrictions on foreign assist- 15 ance on countries, particularly those in the 16 Western Hemisphere, who choose to offer full 17 political support to the People’s Republic of 18 China. 19 (C) Working with allies and partners who 20 maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan (in- 21 cluding through Representative offices) to pur- 22 sue full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2511 IH SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that not later than 30 2 days after the enactment of this Act, the President should 3 establish full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. 4 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 6 sion of law, with respect to each country listed in sub- 7 section (c), no Federal funds may be made available in 8 the form of foreign assistance (including humanitarian as- 9 sistance or security assistance) to such country during the 10 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act 11 and ending on the date described in subsection (b) for 12 such country. 13 (b) TERMINATION.—The date described in this sub- 14 section, with respect to a country, is the earlier of— 15 (1) the date that is 30 days after the date on 16 which the President certifies to the Congress that 17 such country has resumed or established full diplo- 18 matic relations with Taiwan; or 19 (2) the date that is 10 years after the date of 20 the enactment of this Act. 21 (c) COUNTRIES SPECIFIED.—The countries listed in 22 this subsection are the following: 23 (1) Honduras. 24 (2) Nicaragua. 25 (3) Dominica. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:32 Apr 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2511 IH (4) Antigua and Barbuda. 1 (5) Grenada. 2 (6) Cuba. 3 (7) Bahamas. 4 (8) Barbados. 5 (9) Jamaica. 6 (10) Trinidad and Tobago. 7 (11) Panama. 8 (12) Costa Rica. 9 (13) The Dominican Republic. 10 (14) El Salvador. 11 (15) Bolivia. 12 (16) Uruguay. 13 (17) Guyana. 14 (18) Suriname. 15 (19) Venezuela. 16 (20) Solomon Islands. 17 (21) Kiribati. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Apr 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2511.IH H2511 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB