Full Text of HR0253 97th General Assembly
HR0253 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Republic of China (Taiwan) has achieved | 3 | | economic and social stability, currently the world's 16th | 4 | | largest trading nation; in the last 2 decades it has been | 5 | | praised as a beacon of democracy for Asia; it has taken great | 6 | | steps forward to enter the world arena as a trusted partner; | 7 | | and for the last 2 years has participated as an observer in the | 8 | | World Health Assembly, for which Taiwan is grateful to the | 9 | | United States, and, in particular, the Illinois General | 10 | | Assembly for their longstanding support in this regard; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Illinois has a strong economic and cultural | 12 | | relationship with Taiwan since establishing sister-state | 13 | | relations in 1992; Illinois has ranked 6th in the last 2 years | 14 | | among U.S. states in the value of Illinois' overall exports to | 15 | | Taiwan; in 2010 U.S. exports to Taiwan increased by 43%; Taiwan | 16 | | sent 25 procurement missions to the United States between 1978 | 17 | | and 2009, which have enhanced the mutually beneficial trade | 18 | | relations and permanent friendship between the 2 countries, | 19 | | while the Illinois economy has benefited from Taiwan's | 20 | | consistently large imports of Illinois agricultural products; | 21 | | in 2009, Taiwan was one of the world's largest importers of | 22 | | Illinois soy products and ranked as the 13th largest market for | 23 | | Illinois exports overall; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Taiwan's continuing absence from international | 2 | | organizations dealing with climate change has impeded Taiwan's | 3 | | ability to respond to natural disasters, such as Typhoon | 4 | | Morakot in 2009, while the global initiative to combat climate | 5 | | change has been impaired by the lack of participation of | 6 | | Taiwan; and, similarly, Taiwan's absence from international | 7 | | organizations dealing with airline safety and security, major | 8 | | global concerns since 2001, has left a gap in the international | 9 | | aviation security system, as Taiwan is a key transport hub in | 10 | | the Asia-Pacific region with more than 1,000,000 flights | 11 | | passing through the Taipei Flight Information Region and one of | 12 | | the world's largest airports by cargo volume, Taoyuan | 13 | | International Airport; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The Taiwan government highly values its relations | 15 | | with the United States and continually seeks to demonstrate its | 16 | | willingness to contribute its resources and know-how to the | 17 | | international community, such as its swift delivery of | 18 | | humanitarian assistance to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake | 19 | | in that country, expedited by the United States, which has | 20 | | generously aided Taiwan in rescue and recovery after Typhoon | 21 | | Morakot; and to contribute to peace, freedom, and security in | 22 | | the world as a responsible stakeholder and peaceable nation of | 23 | | 23,000,000 citizens through the Republic of China's policies, | 24 | | such as "flexible diplomacy" in foreign affairs and its | 25 | | pragmatic approach to relations with mainland China, as |
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| 1 | | demonstrated by the historic passage in 2010 and implementation | 2 | | in 2011 of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between | 3 | | Taipei and Beijing; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The Taiwan government has met a central | 5 | | requirement for inclusion in the United States Visa Waiver | 6 | | Program by achieving a low visa-rejection rate of less than 3% | 7 | | among Republic of China nationals applying for visas to the | 8 | | United States and has gained visa-waiver status with 97 other | 9 | | countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, | 10 | | and Canada, which, taken together, represents 94% of the most | 11 | | frequently visited countries by Republic of China citizens and | 12 | | is an increase of 44 countries of those granting Taiwan | 13 | | visa-waiver status in just 2 1/2 years, thus symbolizing the | 14 | | growing respect commanded by the ROC internationally; | 15 | | therefore, be it
| 16 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 18 | | we congratulate the Republic of China (Taiwan) on the | 19 | | centennial of its birth in 1911 as Asia's first Republic; and, | 20 | | to increase Taiwan's international space and contribution to | 21 | | the global community, we reaffirm our support for the | 22 | | meaningful participation of Taiwan in the United Nations | 23 | | Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the | 24 | | International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with observer |
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| 1 | | status and urge the United States government to include Taiwan | 2 | | in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program as soon as possible; and be it | 3 | | further
| 4 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 5 | | presented to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham | 6 | | Clinton, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, ICAO | 7 | | Secretary General Raymond Benjamin, and the Taipei Economic and | 8 | | Cultural Office in Chicago.
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