Bipartisan foreign policy leaders in Congress introduced a resolution on Thursday reaffirming US support for Taiwan — and countering pressure from China to assume complete sovereignty over the island.
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee floated the bill to cut against Beijing’s “One China Principle” and other efforts aimed at thwarting Taiwan’s diplomatic participation in international relations.
“Let me make one thing very clear: America does not recognize China’s claim over Taiwan,” said Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), who chairs the Foreign Relations panel.
Mattie Neretin – CNP / MEGA
“Once again, the Chinese government has attempted to trick the world and subvert the United Nations for its own purposes – but we see these malign tactics and stand in support of our friends in Taiwan,” he added.
The bill – co-sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking member of the committee, as well as Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) – takes issue with the “harmful conflation of China’s ‘One China Principle’ and the United States’ ‘One China Policy.’”
The Chinese Communist Party’s “One China Principle” holds that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that the island will one day be unified with the mainland.
Meanwhile, the “One China Policy” or Resolution 2758, while not endorsing Beijing’s position, acknowledges that there is only one Chinese government and steers the US away from having official diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The lawmakers argue that the CCP has improperly used a 1971 United Nations resolution granting the People’s Republic a seat in the assembly to lay claim to the breakaway island.
“In recent years, the [People’s Republic of China] has linked Resolution 2758 with its ‘One China Principle’ and has claimed that Resolution 2758 addresses the matter of sovereignty over Taiwan … Resolution 2758 did not endorse and is not equivalent to the ‘One China Principle’ and countries that supported Resolution 2758 do not necessarily accept the ‘One China Principle,’” the bill states, arguing that the UN resolution “does not represent an international consensus” regarding China’s claim to Taiwan.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell noted in a 2024 hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the UN resolution “is a tool [that China uses] to make the argument that somehow Taiwan’s status is illegitimate.”
The Senate bill accuses China of having “weaponized” the 53-year-old resolution to “isolate Taiwan and to prevent its meaningful participation” in the UN and other international groups, while bolstering its claims to the island.
At least 10 nations, including Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, the Solomon Islands and Burkina Faso, have cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan after being “induced or pressured” by China’s mischaracterization of the 1971 UN order, according to the lawmakers.
The Senate resolution “reaffirms” that the US “does not affirmatively recognize the People’s Republic of China’s claim to control over Taiwan and its outlying islands: and “emphasizes that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 is not equivalent to, and does not endorse, the PRC’s ‘One China Principle.’”
It also condemns China’s use of the “One China Principle” to “coerce” countries to accept its claims over Taiwan and reaffirms support for the island’s membership in international organizations.
The resolution encourages the Trump administration to “work with partners on joint efforts to counter China’s false narratives about Resolution 2758.”
House members also joined onto the resolution, including Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.), the lead Republican and Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific, and Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who serve as chairman and ranking member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
The resolution does not take a final position on Taiwan’s status, but “acknowledges” a degree of Chinese control.
The legislation was introduced days after the Trump administration removed the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence” from the State Department’s fact sheet on Taiwan, enraging Chinese officials.
“We urge the US to … stop emboldening and supporting Taiwan independence and avoid further damaging China-U.S. relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiaku told reporters on Monday when asked about the change.
Earlier this month, President Trump slapped an across-the-board 10% tariff on Chinese goods in an effort to push the communist regime into halting the flow of deadly fentanyl into the US.
