Bill Text: IL HR0253 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Congratulates the Republic of China (Taiwan) on the centennial of its birth in 1911.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2011-05-10 - Resolution Adopted [HR0253 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2011-HR0253-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The Republic of China (Taiwan) has achieved | ||||||
3 | economic and social stability, currently the world's 16th | ||||||
4 | largest trading nation; in the last 2 decades it has been | ||||||
5 | praised as a beacon of democracy for Asia; it has taken great | ||||||
6 | steps forward to enter the world arena as a trusted partner; | ||||||
7 | and for the last 2 years has participated as an observer in the | ||||||
8 | World Health Assembly, for which Taiwan is grateful to the | ||||||
9 | United States, and, in particular, the Illinois General | ||||||
10 | Assembly for their longstanding support in this regard; and
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11 | WHEREAS, Illinois has a strong economic and cultural | ||||||
12 | relationship with Taiwan since establishing sister-state | ||||||
13 | relations in 1992; Illinois has ranked 6th in the last 2 years | ||||||
14 | among U.S. states in the value of Illinois' overall exports to | ||||||
15 | Taiwan; in 2010 U.S. exports to Taiwan increased by 43%; Taiwan | ||||||
16 | sent 25 procurement missions to the United States between 1978 | ||||||
17 | and 2009, which have enhanced the mutually beneficial trade | ||||||
18 | relations and permanent friendship between the 2 countries, | ||||||
19 | while the Illinois economy has benefited from Taiwan's | ||||||
20 | consistently large imports of Illinois agricultural products; | ||||||
21 | in 2009, Taiwan was one of the world's largest importers of | ||||||
22 | Illinois soy products and ranked as the 13th largest market for | ||||||
23 | Illinois exports overall; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Taiwan's continuing absence from international | ||||||
2 | organizations dealing with climate change has impeded Taiwan's | ||||||
3 | ability to respond to natural disasters, such as Typhoon | ||||||
4 | Morakot in 2009, while the global initiative to combat climate | ||||||
5 | change has been impaired by the lack of participation of | ||||||
6 | Taiwan; and, similarly, Taiwan's absence from international | ||||||
7 | organizations dealing with airline safety and security, major | ||||||
8 | global concerns since 2001, has left a gap in the international | ||||||
9 | aviation security system, as Taiwan is a key transport hub in | ||||||
10 | the Asia-Pacific region with more than 1,000,000 flights | ||||||
11 | passing through the Taipei Flight Information Region and one of | ||||||
12 | the world's largest airports by cargo volume, Taoyuan | ||||||
13 | International Airport; and
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14 | WHEREAS, The Taiwan government highly values its relations | ||||||
15 | with the United States and continually seeks to demonstrate its | ||||||
16 | willingness to contribute its resources and know-how to the | ||||||
17 | international community, such as its swift delivery of | ||||||
18 | humanitarian assistance to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake | ||||||
19 | in that country, expedited by the United States, which has | ||||||
20 | generously aided Taiwan in rescue and recovery after Typhoon | ||||||
21 | Morakot; and to contribute to peace, freedom, and security in | ||||||
22 | the world as a responsible stakeholder and peaceable nation of | ||||||
23 | 23,000,000 citizens through the Republic of China's policies, | ||||||
24 | such as "flexible diplomacy" in foreign affairs and its | ||||||
25 | pragmatic approach to relations with mainland China, as |
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1 | demonstrated by the historic passage in 2010 and implementation | ||||||
2 | in 2011 of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between | ||||||
3 | Taipei and Beijing; and
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4 | WHEREAS, The Taiwan government has met a central | ||||||
5 | requirement for inclusion in the United States Visa Waiver | ||||||
6 | Program by achieving a low visa-rejection rate of less than 3% | ||||||
7 | among Republic of China nationals applying for visas to the | ||||||
8 | United States and has gained visa-waiver status with 97 other | ||||||
9 | countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, | ||||||
10 | and Canada, which, taken together, represents 94% of the most | ||||||
11 | frequently visited countries by Republic of China citizens and | ||||||
12 | is an increase of 44 countries of those granting Taiwan | ||||||
13 | visa-waiver status in just 2 1/2 years, thus symbolizing the | ||||||
14 | growing respect commanded by the ROC internationally; | ||||||
15 | therefore, be it
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16 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
17 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
18 | we congratulate the Republic of China (Taiwan) on the | ||||||
19 | centennial of its birth in 1911 as Asia's first Republic; and, | ||||||
20 | to increase Taiwan's international space and contribution to | ||||||
21 | the global community, we reaffirm our support for the | ||||||
22 | meaningful participation of Taiwan in the United Nations | ||||||
23 | Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the | ||||||
24 | International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with observer |
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1 | status and urge the United States government to include Taiwan | ||||||
2 | in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program as soon as possible; and be it | ||||||
3 | further
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4 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
5 | presented to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham | ||||||
6 | Clinton, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, ICAO | ||||||
7 | Secretary General Raymond Benjamin, and the Taipei Economic and | ||||||
8 | Cultural Office in Chicago.
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