The CCP ‘is committed to eroding Taiwan’s global status, and the United States should be just as committed to strengthening it,’ Cruz said.
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) is introducing legislation to overturn an Obama-era rule barring Taiwanese diplomats and servicemembers from displaying their flag during officials trips to the U.S.
Cruz’s legislation, the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty (Taiwan SOS) Act, instructs the State Department and the Department of War to permit Taiwanese officials and military members to display the Taiwan flag and other insignia for official purposes, National Review has learned.
“The Chinese Communist Party is committed to eroding Taiwan’s global status, and the United States should be just as committed to strengthening it. The Obama administration did enormous damage to American national security when it first implemented these prohibitions against our Taiwanese allies, and I have been battling this policy ever since,” Cruz said.
“It was successfully overturned during the first Trump administration, before being reinstated under Biden, again to the detriment of the safety and security of Americans and our allies,” he added.
“There has been broad, explicit bipartisan support for rescinding these prohibitions, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced this language to do so. I am confident they will do so again, and I call on my colleagues in the Senate to advance it to passage.”
The bill reverses a 2015 Obama administration policy banning the display of the Taiwanese flag in order to placate the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP considers Taiwan a rogue Chinese territory that will be “unified” with the mainland at some point in the future.
The Obama administration’s policy meant that the Departments of State and War were not permitted to share Taiwanese sovereignty symbols on social media.
In addition, the Obama-era directive prevented Taiwanese military members from wearing their uniforms or displaying symbols of Taiwan’s sovereignty during joint trainings with U.S. forces.
Appearances in social media posts are included in Cruz’s legislation under the banner of official purposes. Wearing official uniforms and conducting government ceremonies and functions are also put under that designation.
Cruz’s Taiwan bill is co-sponsored by Senator Todd Young (R., Ind.) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), both of whom are China hawks.
“Taiwan’s government, military, and people deserve to be treated with the same respect and recognition we afford other countries. Our bill will strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations and stand up to the Chinese Communist Party’s coercion,” Young said in a statement.
Since 1979, the U.S. has practiced a “one-China” policy where Beijing is outwardly recognized as the sole government of China, while the U.S. covertly supports Taiwanese sovereignty. Some China hawks have questioned the continued use of the “one-China” policy because of the CCP’s increasing aggression towards Taiwan and more open U.S. support for Taipei.