SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 101

BY  BEALL and BOETTGER

A Resolution congratulating the Republic of China on Taiwan on its twentieth anniversary of participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and supporting the Republic of China on Taiwan as a part of the global community.

   WHEREAS, the Republic of China on Taiwan in 2012 is celebrating 20 years of Taiwan’s participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and its active role in promoting economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the areas of broadening opportunities for digital computing, green technologies, and renewable energy, improving crisis management for small and medium-size enterprises, and establishing a research center for typhoon and society; and
   WHEREAS, Taiwan in 2010 ranked as the United States’ ninth largest trading partner in the world, serving as the United States’ thirteenth largest export market and ninth largest source of imports; and
   WHEREAS, Taiwan is the world’s sixth largest market for United States agricultural goods, as well as the fifteenth-largest market for Iowa goods, worth $106 million in 2010, an increase of 12.9 percent above Iowa’s exports to Taiwan in 2009, which exports could increase further in coming years with the expected purchases of soybeans and corn following the September 2011 visit of the Taiwan Agricultural Goodwill Mission to Iowa and the Midwest, thus contributing to the region’s economy; and
   WHEREAS, Taiwan seeks greater regional integration in the Asian-Pacific and welcomes the opportunity presented by the United States announcement at the 2011 APEC leaders’ meeting of its intent to not only join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the proposed twenty-first century trade agreement between the United States and eight other Asia-Pacific Rim countries, but to expand TPP membership in the future to include other countries, such as Taiwan; and
   WHEREAS, Taiwan’s absence from international organizations has impeded Taiwan’s ability to participate in global climate initiatives and to respond to natural disasters like Typhoon Morakot, which struck Taiwan in the summer of 2009, an unusually destructive typhoon season in the Pacific; and
   WHEREAS, aviation safety has become a major global concern since 2001, with Taiwan being a key air transport hub in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 1 million flights passing through the Taipei Flight Information Region, and with one of the world’s largest airports by cargo volume, Taoyuan International Airport; NOW THEREFORE,

   BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That the Iowa Senate congratulates the Republic of China on Taiwan in 2012 on the one-hundredth anniversary of its Founding Day of January 1, and separately, on its 20 years of participation in the APEC forum; supports Taiwan’s efforts to secure entry to the TPP, along with the United States and other friendly Asia-Pacific Rim countries; and reaffirms its support for the participation of Taiwan in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to increase Taiwan’s international stature in and contribution to the global community; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed to send a copy of this Resolution to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres of the UNFCCC; Secretary General Raymond Benjamin of the ICAO; President Ma Ying-jeou of the Republic of China (Taiwan); and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, Illinois.