Taiwan Wins a Vote in House

Agence France-PresseTHURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2006

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to strike down a ban on high-level government contacts with Taiwan in a move that, at least in theory, may open the way for visits by Taiwanese officials to the White House. The amendment, sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would prohibit the government from enforcing the "Guidelines on Relations With Taiwan" that were issued in 2001 by the State Department. The amendment was tucked into a $60 billion spending bill that is to provide funding for the State Department and was passed by a voice vote. The Senate still has to approve the measure, but Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, one of those who sponsored the legislation, hailed the vote as a victory for friends of democracy in Asia. "China shouldn't control our foreign policy, Americans should," he said in a statement. "Lifting these humiliating restrictions will force State Department bureaucrats to treat Taiwan as an equal partner in freedom and democracy."
The guidelines were issued by the State Department to reinforce the "one China" policy adopted by the United States in 1979, when Washington switched its formal diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The guidelines specifically prohibited holding meetings with Taiwanese representatives at the White House or the State Department building, and barred high-level federal employees from attending formal Taiwanese receptions.
Mid-level State and Defense Department officials were banned from traveling to Taiwan on "official business," while officials above the rank of assistant secretary were barred from going to the island even for personal reasons. Neither the White House nor the State Department had an immediate response to the House vote.