On June 23, 1999, the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs of the House International Relations Committee unanimously passed HR1794 in support of World Health Organization membership for Taiwan.

The bill concludes that "Not later than September 21, 1999, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Congress on the efforts of the Secretary to fulfill the commitment made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to more actively support Taiwan's participation in international organizations, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO)."

During this so-called "Mark-up" hearing, Chairman of the Asian Subcommittee Doug Bereuter, announced that he would also co-sponsor the bill. So did other committee Members Reps. Jim Davis (D-FL), Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), Rep. Bob Wexler (D-FL) and Rep. Eni Faleomavaega (D-SA).

The initiative of introducing this bill was taken by Congressman Sherrod Brown. Rep. Brown attended the annual meeting of the WHO in Geneva this past May to make the case for Taiwan's membership in the WHO. During the mark-up hearing, he stated he was disappointed about the lack of willingness of the U.S. WHO delegation to support Taiwan's participation in the WHO.

"I traveled to Geneva to determine whether or not the U.S. delegation would support Taiwan's efforts to participate in the WHO. I saw our delegation stand by silently as the People's Republic go China along with the military dictatorship that rules Myanmar, the nation we used to call Burma and probably the worst government in the world, decried Taiwanese participation in the WHO as a threat to the stability of East Asia," the Congressman stated.

At the end of the hearing, Reps. Bereuter and Brown stated that the expected that the full International Relations Committee would mark up this the bill shortly as well.