SLS 21RS-455 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 20
BY SENATOR PEACOCK
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Expresses support for trade agreements between the
United States and Taiwan and Taiwan's participation in certain international organizations,
and celebrates the anniversary of the federal Taiwan Relations Act, and sister state
relationship between Taiwan and Louisiana.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To express support for the strengthening of the partnership with Taiwan and for the
3 expansion of Taiwan's role on the global stage.
4 WHEREAS, the longstanding bonds of friendship between the United States and
5 Taiwan, embodied in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, continue to yield important
6 economic, strategic, and cultural benefits; and
7 WHEREAS, in 2019, bilateral trade in goods reached $85.5 billion ranking Taiwan
8 as the United States' tenth largest trading partner, and Taiwan's recent action to lift
9 restrictions on U.S. beef and pork beginning in January 2021 helped further enhance bilateral
10 trade; and
11 WHEREAS, the seventh largest export market for U.S. agricultural products,
12 Taiwan's biennial agricultural trade goodwill missions result in multibillion-dollar supply
13 deals, and its annually dispatched delegations to the SelectUSA Investment Summit boost
14 investments; and
15 WHEREAS, the robust US-Taiwan trade and investment partnership provides a solid
16 foundation for a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to spur job creation,
17 further expand the global market, and secure international supply chains; and
18 WHEREAS, Taiwan is well positioned to play an important role augmenting the
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SLS 21RS-455 ORIGINAL
1 revitalization of the global supply chain as part of the post-coronavirus pandemic economic
2 recovery; and
3 WHEREAS, Taiwan is committed to helping address global challenges, from
4 humanitarian crises to nontraditional security threats, emerging this year as an important
5 partner in pandemic prevention, providing surgical masks and other PPE to more than eighty
6 countries around the world, including one hundred thirty-five thousand surgical masks from
7 the Taiwan government and Taiwan-affiliated private groups to the state and cities of
8 Louisiana; and
9 WHEREAS, the Taiwan Model has been admired around the world for its effective
10 pandemic prevention and containment, bolstering unprecedented international support for
11 Taiwan's bid to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA); and
12 WHEREAS, Taiwanese officials and civil society groups partner with the United
13 States on an array of issues to promote our common values of freedom, democracy, and
14 human rights; and
15 WHEREAS, in March 2020, Taiwan joined with the United States to establish the
16 Partnership against Coronavirus, building on the cooperative tradition of prior joint
17 partnerships such as the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF), which
18 advances Taiwanese leadership in such arenas as democratization, human rights, women's
19 empowerment, and public health; and
20 WHEREAS, since 1985, Louisiana and Taiwan have maintained a sister state
21 relationship, enjoying particularly close economic ties, wherein Taiwanese firms have
22 invested billions of dollars in a broad spectrum of Louisiana businesses, making Taiwan
23 Louisiana's ninth largest foreign market in Asia; and
24 WHEREAS, in 2019, Taiwan imported nearly $3.65 billion in commodities from
25 Louisiana including petroleum products, chemicals, primary metal manufacturing, and
26 agricultural products, and Louisiana imported over $1.27 billion in Taiwanese goods,
27 primarily electronics, metal products, transportation equipment, and industrial
28 machinery; and
29 WHEREAS, FG LA LLC, a group owned by Taiwanese company Formosa Plastics,
30 is investing in and received proper state permits to construct a new petrochemical facility
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SLS 21RS-455 ORIGINAL
1 in St. James Parish, its fourth major investment in the state, and this project represents
2 significant investment and quality jobs for St. James Parish, the river region and the state of
3 Louisiana, including a projected $33 million annually in state and local taxes, and $5 billion
4 annually in shipped goods, making the project among the largest economic generators in the
5 state; and
6 WHEREAS, Louisiana and the United States have benefitted immeasurably through
7 decades of an unwavering friendship with Taiwan, and the wider world is sure to reap
8 tremendous rewards as Taiwan works to enhance its presence in the international
9 community.
10 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
11 express its support for the strengthening of the partnership with Taiwan and for the
12 expansion of Taiwan's role on the global stage.
13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby:
14 (1) Express support for a bilateral trade agreement between the United States and
15 Taiwan.
16 (2) Express support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in the International
17 Criminal Police Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United
18 Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the World Health Assembly.
19 (3) Celebrate the forty-second anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations
20 Act and the thirty-sixth anniversary of the sister state relationship between the state of
21 Louisiana and Taiwan.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
23 Mr. Peter C.Y. Chen, Director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Michael Bell.
DIGEST
SCR 20 Original 2021 Regular Session Peacock
Expresses support for trade agreements between the United States and Taiwan, Taiwan's
participation in certain international organizations, celebrates the anniversary of the federal
Taiwan Relations Act, and the sister state relationship between Taiwan and Louisiana.
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