TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Representative Lance Gooden on Tuesday (Sept. 19) was joined by 24 other Republican members of the House of Representatives in calling on President Joe Biden to formally invite President Tsai (蔡英文) to attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in San Francisco.
The letter reminded Biden that a similar letter calling for an invitation to be extended to Tsai to take part in APEC had been sent on April 18, but had failed to elicit a satisfactory response. Given that the summit is from Nov. 11-17, the congressmen reiterated that Taiwan is "a full APEC member in good standing and deserves fair and equal treatment" to that of other member states.
The authors said that Taiwan has "made significant strides with economic, cultural, and technological contributions" not only in the Asia-Pacific region but across the globe. They highlighted the fact that Taiwan is the U.S.' eighth-largest trading partner and significant progress has been made with economic and trade relations through pacts such as the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade.
They argued that excluding Tsai from the summit after making such major bilateral agreements would "undo years of bilateral progress with Taiwan and portray our government as hypocritical to the rest of the world." The congressmen stressed the importance of the U.S. being a vocal ally of Taiwan while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) steadily ratchets up "its hostility and unwarranted measures against Taiwan and other players in the region."
In a press release the same day, Gooden demanded that Biden provide a "plan of action" for Taiwan's complete participation in APEC. Gooden warned, "Denying Taiwan's full participation in APEC will only strengthen the CCP's resolve and jeopardize our mission of ensuring peace and stability in the region."
This letter was co-signed by 24 Republican members of Congress.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) on July 24 created a Webpage that called on Americans to petition members of Congress to urge Secretary of State Antony Blinken to formally invite Tsai to the summit. It includes a formatted email template that enables people to easily send the petition to their local member of Congress.
