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