| Taiwan Security Enhancement Act | |
| Fullname: | To assist in the enhancement of the security of Taiwan, and for other purposes. |
| Introduced In The: | 106th |
| Sponsored By: | Rep. Tom DeLay (R, TX-22) |
| Introducedin: | House |
| Introducedby: | Rep. Tom DeLay (R, TX-22) |
| Introduceddate: | May 18, 1999 |
| Committees: | House Foreign Affairs, House Armed Services |
| Passedbody1: | House |
| Passeddate1: | February 1, 2000 |
| Passedvote1: | 341–70 |
The Taiwan Security Enhancement Act was a US Congressional bill which never became law. It was passed by one of the Houses of the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives, on February 1, 2000, by a vote of 341 to 70. It envisaged greater United States military support of the Republic of China/Taiwan, including training and equipment. It also contemplated establishing direct military communication lines between the United States and Taiwan. It was never approved by the U.S. Senate or signed into law by the U.S. president.
Its proponents intended the proposed law to strengthen and update the Taiwan Relations Act, which was passed soon after the US ceased official relations with the Republic of China (now commonly known as Taiwan) on December 31, 1978, and instead recognized the People's Republic of China on January 1, 1979. President Jimmy Carter had unilaterally withdrawn from the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty establishing a defense pact between the United States and the Republic of China in January 1979, and the Taiwan Relations Act was Congress's response to enforce and prevent excessive unilateral foreign policy change at the hands of the President without consent of Congress.
The U.S. president at the time, Bill Clinton, opposed the proposed legislation. However, most Democrats in Congress supported the legislation despite President Clinton's opposition.
From the Chinese perspective, the bill was incompatible with the policies of the previous six United States administrations, particularly Ronald Reagan's 1982 Joint Communique.[1] The Chinese Government's spokesperson, responding to press inquiries, gave the Beijing Government's response as follows:[2]