Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1) Taiwan is a free and prosperous democracy of nearly 23,000,000 people, an important contributor to peace and stability around the world, and continues to embody and promote democratic values, freedom, and human rights in Asia. (2) The policy of the United States toward Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.). (3) Under section 2 of the Taiwan Relations Act (22 U.S.C. 3301), it is the policy of the United States— (A) to preserve and promote extensive, close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan, as well as the people on the China mainland and all other peoples of the Western Pacific area; (B) to declare that peace and stability in the area are in the political, security, and economic interests of the United States, and are matters of international concern; (C) to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means; (D) to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States; (E) to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character; and (F) to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan. (4) For decades and increasingly since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen as President of Taiwan in 2016, the Chinese Communist Party has employed a variety of coercive military and nonmilitary tactics short of armed conflict in its efforts to exert existential pressure on Taiwan, including through diplomatic isolation, restricting tourism, cyberattacks, spreading disinformation, and controlling the ability of Taiwan to purchase COVID–19 vaccines from other countries. (5) According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, the People's Republic of China undertook live-fire military exercises in the Taiwan Strait April 1 and 2, 2025, vowing to maintain combat readiness and prevent any attempts by Taiwan to gain independence from the People's Republic of China. The exercise reportedly involved Chinese 76 aircraft of the People's Liberation Army, 15 naval ships and four official ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy, with 37 sorties crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern, and eastern air defense identification zone. (6) According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, 29 Chinese warplanes and drones crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on February 19 and 20, 2025. (7) In March 2021, then-Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, testified that the threat of a military invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army is manifest during this decade, in fact in the next six years. (8) In October 2024, the People's Republic of China employed a record 125 aircraft, as well as its Liaoning aircraft carrier and ships, in large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands, simulating the sealing off of key ports. As part of that exercise, 111 Chinese aircraft reportedly crossed the median line, entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. That action followed remarks by Taiwan’s president rejecting Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the self-governed island.