Rep. Ami Bera on Taiwan Policy in Congress

Well, this is the interest that we have in the Global Taiwan Institute, is you are a congressman who's deeply interested in Taiwan.

You've shown that interest.

But Congress's relationship with Taiwan goes back a long time.

It goes back to 1979, the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act.

How does this relationship with Taiwan get passed down? If there's no one there since the Taiwan Relations Act, how is it that still to this day Congress has this wonderful relationship with Taiwan? Congressmen like yourself go there frequently, understand these issues arguably better than many other countries in the world.

You know, so there's obviously a large Taiwanese-American diaspora.

I'm from California, so, you know, vibrant community in California, active community.

You know, it's a major trading partner with the United States.

So, you know, deep economic ties there.

It's a technologic powerhouse when you look at the semiconductor industry.

So deep ties with us.

And it's a friend.

So it's a country or it's an area that we've had strong relations with.

It also sits in a tough neighborhood.

Obviously, you're seeing the...

the rise of Beijing and China, a lot more aggressiveness towards Taiwan.

And, you know, I think it's important, you know, from our perspective as the United States to uphold that principle, the principles of the status quo that, you know, We still have the one China policy.

In the 21st century, let's avoid kinetic confrontation.

Let's have cooperation.

I think it's in China's interest had they not changed their posture and become as aggressive as they have across the strait.

A decade ago, you were watching the Taiwanese economy and the Chinese economy becoming very integrated and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

But again, if there's a kinetic aggressive takeover of Taiwan, I think that changes a lot of the dynamics in the region.

It absolutely will.

I mean, there is this understanding that you just talked about in Congress about Taiwan.

I'm curious about how the Congressional Taiwan Caucus factors into this.