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Congressional Research Service
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Taiwan Presidents' U.S. Transit Visits
Introduction
Since 1994, four sitting presidents of Taiwan have
undertaken a combined 29 trips abroad that have included
transit stops in the United States. U.S. policy since 1995 has
been to bar Taiwan presidents from making non-transit
visits to the United States. The U.S. government presents
this policy as consistent with the unofficial nature of U.S.-
Taiwan relations. (See CRS In Focus IF10275, Taiwan:
Background and U.S. Relations.)
Stakeholders in the U.S. government, Taiwan, and the
People's Republic of China (PRC) see Taiwan presidents'
U.S. transit visits differently.
* The U.S. executive branch presents such transits as
private, unofficial, and consistent with the U.S. one-
China policy.
* Some Members of Congress have criticized U.S.
protocol for such transits as excessively restrictive. In
the 118th Congress, S. 477 and H.Con.Res. 71 would
support U.S. visits for Taiwan presidents.
* Taiwan governments have sought opportunities for
presidential transit visits, portraying U.S. permission for
such stops as affirmation of U.S. support.
* The PRC government, which claims sovereignty over
Taiwan, has long criticized Taiwan presidents' U.S.
transit visits as inconsistent with U.S. commitments to
maintain only unofficial relations with Taiwan, and
charged that such transits undermine PRC sovereignty
and territorial integrity.
Evolution of U.S. Policy on Transit
Unofficial Relations
U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial since January 1,
1979, when the United States established diplomatic
relations with the PRC and terminated diplomatic relations
with self-ruled Taiwan, which calls itself the Republic of
China (ROC). In three joint communiques concluded with
the PRC in 1972, 1978, and 1982, the United States
acknowledged, but did not endorse, the Chinese
position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of
China. In the 1978 and 1982 communiques, the United
States also stated that it would maintain cultural,
commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people
of Taiwan (emphasis by CRS).
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA; P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C.
§3301 et seq.) provides the legal basis for unofficial U.S.
relations with Taiwan. It refers to [t]he President having
terminated governmental relations between the United
States and the governing authorities on Taiwan recognized
Updated February 21, 2024
by the United States as the Republic of China prior to
January 1, 1979. The TRA goes on to state that it is U.S.
policy to preserve and promote extensive, close, and
friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations with the
people on Taiwan. The U.S. government presents the TRA
and the U.S.-PRC communiquds, plus Six Assurances
conveyed to Taiwan in 1982, as guiding the U.S. one-China
policy. (See CRS In Focus IF12503, Taiwan: The Origins
of the U.S. One-China Policy, and CRS In Focus IF11665,
President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan.)
1994 Taiwan Policy Review
For the first 15 years after terminating diplomatic relations
with Taiwan, the U.S. executive branch interpreted
unofficial relations with Taiwan as precluding visits of any
sort by Taiwan presidents. In May 1994, the Clinton
Administration for the first time permitted a Taiwan
president to transit through the United States, allowing
Taiwan's then-President Lee Teng-hui to stop to refuel his
plane in Hawaii on his way to Central America, but not to
spend the night. Apparently piqued by U.S. restrictions, Lee
declined to leave his plane. Some Members of Congress
saw the Administration's treatment of Lee as insufficiently
respectful. At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee immediately after the transit, then-Senator
Frank H. Murkowski observed that the U.S. government
allowed figures such as Palestinian Liberation Organization
Chairman Yasser Arafat and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader,
the 14th Dalai Lama, to visit the United States. The
American public might not understand, Murkowski
suggested, why our friends such as the Taiwanese are kept
so far out and others without formal diplomatic relations
with the United States can come to Washington.
In September 1994, the Clinton Administration completed a
review of U.S. Taiwan policy. Subsequently-declassified
briefing papers for Under Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff's
travel to the PRC that month state that the Administration
would now [p]ermit normal transits of the U.S., but no
visits or public activities, for Taiwan's top leadership,
while continuing to [f]orbid visits, as opposed to transits,
by Taiwan's top leadership. On September 27, 1994,
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs Winston Lord presented the outcome of the Taiwan
Policy Review to Congress. He stated that President Bill
Clinton has decided to enhance our unofficial ties with
Taiwan. Under questioning from Senators, one of whom
expressed dismay over the conditions of President Lee's
transit, Lord said under our new policy, we will permit
overnight visits. We will permit anything consistent with
security and comfort and convenience so long as it's a
transit visit. Lord added that the Administration strongly
opposes congressional attempts to legislate visits by top
leaders of the 'Republic of China' to the U.S. The next
month, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveojp0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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