Photo: Lenin Nolly/ML News
Representative Frank Lucas (OK-3), the chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and former chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and Senior Fellow Tom Duesterberg participated recently at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC in a conversation on steps Congress could take to protect American economic interests and defend Taiwan’s vibrant democracy from an increasingly belligerent China.
Congressman Frank Lucas’s (OK-03) Pressure Regulatory Organizations To End Chinese Threats to Taiwan Act, or the PROTECT Taiwan Act, passed on the House floor.
Currently, under the Taiwan Relations Act, the President is required to notify Congress if China poses an immediate threat to Taiwan’s security. If this notification is triggered, H.R. 803 states that it is U.S. policy to exclude Chinese representatives from key international organizations – such as the G20, the Financial Stability Board, and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
“Even in today’s partisan gridlock, one thing we can all agree on is that the Chinese Communist Party poses the greatest economic, political, and national security threat to the United States. While the world watched Russia’s rogue invasion on Ukraine in horror, it is our responsibility to ensure China does not attempt to emulate such blatant aggression on Taiwan,” said Congressman Lucas. “That’s why Congress must take the necessary steps to ensure Beijing would be subject to significant financial and economic consequences should it threaten our allies in Taiwan. The PROTECT Taiwan Act will do exactly that.”
