National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I want to start by thanking the Senator from Colorado, who has shown real leadership on the subcommittee that involves all of these matters regarding the Indo-Pacific region, and he is here on the floor to talk about a series of other measures that are in place.

None of us here will be in Taipei tomorrow to attend the ceremony, but we all want to take this opportunity to applaud the opening of the American Institute in Taiwan and its new compound. This building will be so much more than just new office space. It will serve as a tangible symbol of the strong and enduring friendship between the United States and Taiwan, which is a democracy and is a strong ally of this country.

Taiwan is not just an important economic and security partner. As I have said already, it is a very vibrant democracy. It has a prosperous free enterprise economy. Frankly, it is a shining example of what we hope the rest of the Indo-Pacific region will become and continue to be.

The opening of this new office comes at a critical time when both the United States and Taiwan face major challenges that are posed by the Communist Party of China, which governs that country. Under the Communist Party, Beijing has increased its efforts to undermine and erode U.S. interests, even as it moves to isolate Taiwan on the international stage. For example, the Chinese Government has successfully blocked Taiwan's meaningful participation in many international organizations, such as the World Health Organization.

Unfortunately, here in our own hemisphere, they have been successful in pressuring certain nations to cut their diplomatic ties with Taiwan and, instead, create new ones with Beijing.

By the way, that is not Taiwan's position, but it is Beijing that makes you choose. You can either have relations with them or Taiwan-- but not with both.

The latest, by the way, is the Dominican Republic, not far from our coast, where, in exchange for billions of dollars of assurances, they made that change. They will deny it, but you will see the billions coming in. These billions of dollars sound like a really good deal until you realize they bring their workers from China, and it is all a one-way street. It is all there to benefit China. Look around the world at all of the countries that have taken all of this money, 5 years, 3 years later; they are terrible deals with terrible terms that are good for China but bad for the country that took the money. But in this particular case, they were successful, and they are going to continue to chip away at those countries. About a year before, Panama had cut their ties with Taiwan.

What China has made very clear is that their intention is to continue to both pressure and entice--I say ``entice,'' but probably the right word is ``bribe''--additional countries to do the exact same thing. And they do it, as I said, with the promise of investments and loans.

I encourage these countries and everyone who is listening and cares about these issues to go and look at the history of these loans, these enticements, and these investments. You will see how bad they ultimately are for the country that helps them. They all come with troubling strings attached.

The Chinese Government, by the way, has even been successful in bullying American companies when it comes to Taiwan--or other topics, for that matter, that they deem too sensitive for the Communist Party. Perhaps the most recent, outrageous example is an American, working in America--not in China, in America--for an American company, Marriott Hotels, was fired from his job because he accidentally liked a tweet that said something about Taiwan and Tibet being independent of China.

Imagine that you work for a company, and you go online. You accidentally retweet something--or like it--and you get fired because China goes to Marriott and says: We will cut you off from doing business if you don't get rid of this guy. They fired an American, in the United States. If you think the things China is doing are things that are happening halfway around the world with Taiwan--they are happening to Americans right here.

A few weeks ago, one of the clothing stores put out a T-shirt, and on this T-shirt it had a map of China, but it didn't include Taiwan. They had to apologize for that and call back all of the T-shirts or they were going to get kicked out.

An American airline, United Airlines, was told that unless they changed their website so that it no longer referred to Taiwan as an independent country, they would be punished.

They are intimidating American businesses in the United States because of Taiwan and other issues the Communist Party finds unacceptable.

For far too long this aggression has gone unchecked. China must not be allowed to continue to interfere any further in Taiwan's relations or standing with the rest of the world.

Earlier this year, I, along with numerous colleagues, passed a law that the President has signed. It is called the Taiwan Travel Act. It encourages high-level visits between American officials and their Taiwanese counterparts. I hope the administration will move quickly to begin implementing this and send high-level officials, including Cabinet-level officials, to Taipei to meet with their counterparts there.

Our friendship with Taiwan is based on our shared ideals and the common vision of an Asia that is prosperous, peaceful, and free. The United States must, should, and, I hope, will continue to stand by Taiwan, irrespective of any pressure that others, including the Communist Party of China, may bring to bear on this relationship.

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