TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. Senate on Monday (March 28) passed a major bill that contains provisions to promote U.S.-Taiwan military, cultural, and diplomatic exchanges, including support for regular arms sales; allowing Taiwanese personnel to display Taiwan's flag in the U.S.; and establishing a "United States-Taiwan Cultural Exchange Foundation."

The Senate passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022 with 68 votes in favor and 28 against. On Feb. 4, the House version of the bill passed with 222 votes in favor and 210 opposed.

However, because the Senate had replaced the entire bill with the contents of the US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, originally proposed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and passed in June 2021, the two houses of Congress will need to reconcile the differences between their versions and present the final product to President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law.

The Senate version of the bill is 2,375 pages long, and its purpose is to enhance the international competitiveness of the U.S., especially in relation to China. This includes the creation of a fund that will inject US$52 billion into the U.S. semiconductor industry over the next five years.

The bill also includes a number of Taiwan-friendly provisions such as identifying the country as an important part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, strengthening the U.S. commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act, supporting regular arms sales to Taiwan, promoting its participation in international organizations such as the U.N., and engaging in negations with Taipei on setting up a Free Trade Agreement.

In order to promote cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, the bill calls on the U.S. secretary of state to consider establishing a "United States-Taiwan Cultural Exchange Foundation" with the goal of "deepening ties between the future leaders of Taiwan and the United States" and providing opportunities for high school and university students to study Mandarin, culture, history, politics, and "other relevant subjects" in Taiwan.

At the diplomatic level, the bill requires the U.S. State Department and other government agencies to stop referring to the elected government of Taiwan as the "Taiwan authorities." It also prohibits the U.S. government from restricting American officials from communicating directly and regularly with their Taiwanese counterparts.

In addition, within 90 days of the legislation going into effect, the bill requires the U.S. secretary of state to repeal any regulations that restrict the display of symbols of sovereignty, including Taiwan's flag or military emblems, when personnel of the Taiwanese military or representative office perform official duties in the U.S.

The House version of the bill includes a provision calling for negotiations with "appropriate officials" on renaming the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States as the "Taiwan Representative Office in the United States." However, the Senate version does not contain this provision.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki issued a statement that evening welcoming the Senate's step forward in "delivering on the President’s vision to strengthen our supply chains, make more in America, and outcompete China and the rest of the world for decades to come." Psaki said the vote indicates that there is bipartisan support for Biden's objectives of strengthening local manufacturing, supporting American innovators, and solving supply chain bottlenecks such as semiconductors.