EXCLUSIVE: GOP Reps Propose Resolution Encouraging ‘Full Participation’ Of Taiwan In Key Asia Forum

Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution encouraging the full participation of Taiwan in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, according to a copy of the resolution shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Reps. Lance Gooden of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, Burgess Owens of Utah and 11 others introduced the resolution, which will allow Taiwan’s president to “attend all future Asia-Pacific Economic (APEC) leaders’ events held within the United States and its territories on an equal footing with leaders of other APEC member states,” the resolution states. APEC is an intergovernmental economic and trade forum whose mission is “championing free and open trade and investment” for the sake of “sustainable economic growth and prosperity” in the Asia-Pacific, according to its website. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: GOP Reps Propose Banning US Gov From Calling Taiwan Name Favored By Beijing)

One of APEC’s 21 member economies serves as APEC’s chair each year and hosts APEC meetings, according to the forum’s website. While Taiwan is listed as one of APEC’s 21 members, the island nation hasn’t been represented by its president during APEC meetings, Gooden explained in an April 2023 Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

“China and Taiwan joined APEC in 1991, two years after its founding, but as a concession to Beijing, Taiwan joined as ‘Chinese Taipei,’ not an independent nation,” Gooden wrote. “Taiwan sends business leaders and a ‘special envoy’ to the summit, but the president has been excluded.”

In September 2023, Republican representatives led by Florida’s Byron Donalds introduced a bill that would prohibit federal agencies from referring to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei,” claiming that the term is “a symbol of oppression from the People’s Republic of China,” the DCNF reported.

In April 2023, Gooden and 20 Congressional colleagues sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to “extend a formal invitation to the Honorable Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, to attend the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in San Francisco, the week of November 12th, 2023.”

“Continuing to exclude Taiwan’s full participation in APEC at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party sends the wrong message and is tantamount to the U.S. asking China for a permission slip to conduct bilateral foreign relations,” Gooden’s April 2023 letter stated.

In November 2023, the U.S. will host APEC in San Francisco “under the theme of ‘Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All,” the forum’s website states. During the summit, Biden and General Secretary Xi Jinping may meet, Reuters reported.

Biden appointed East West Bank’s CEO, Dominic Ng, to represent the U.S. on APEC’s Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2022.

In February 2023, Gooden and five Republican members of Congress urged the FBI to investigate Ng after the DCNF reported that rosters for two Chinese intelligence front groups listed the banker as an “executive director.”

An East West Bank spokesman later claimed that Ng had held an “honorary” position at one of the organizations, but left due to “non-participation.” East West Bank also claimed Ng “was later invited to join” another organization, but “declined the invitation.”

“ABAC follows established APEC practice, which treats members as economies and not countries,” an ABAC spokesman told the DCNF by email after the DCNF asked APEC about Taiwan. “In practice, this construct has not prevented ABAC from contributing to advancing the common goal of supporting sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region in accordance with its mandate.”

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