For immediate release                                                                                                  June 26, 2002

On June 25, Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) introduced a resolution in the Senate (SCR123) concluding that: AIt is United States policy that the future of Taiwan should be resolved peacefully, through a democratic mechanism such as a plebiscite and with the express consent of the people of Taiwan.@

An almost similar resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives in September 2001.

The resolution concludes, Ait is the policy of the United States that Taiwan's future should be decided by the people of Taiwan without outside threats, intimidation, or interference.@ - a clause which echoes President Bush=s commitment made in early 2001 when he stated that the United States would do Awhatever it takes@ to help Taiwan defend itself if threatened by China.

According to the resolution, the right of self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all people. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, applied the very principle on Taiwan when he stated in March 2000, AThe two sides of the Taiwan Strait issue must be settled peacefully and the future relationship between the People=s Republic of China and Taiwan must be determined in accordance with the wishes of Ythe people of Taiwan.@

FAPA President Ming-chi Wu, Ph.D. says, AOver the past three years, the principle that Taiwan=s future should be determined with the Aassent/consent of the people of Taiwan@ has gathered a lot of steam in the U.S. All these reaffirmations of this principle are leading up to the moment when the principle is fully engrained in U.S. foreign policy!@

AIf the people of Taiwan decide to exercise the right of self-determination and opt for independence through a democratic mechanism such as a plebiscite, then it will be hard for the US -being a revolutionary nation itself- to not respect that democratically constituted wish of the 23 million people of Taiwan.@

 AWe at FAPA will do whatever it takes to bring both House and Senate resolutions to the floor during the first week of September 2002, which marks the 51st anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty - the legal basis of the right of self-determination of the people of Taiwan.@ 

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