William R. Richardson: “I am going to vote for this resolution, but I am very troubled about it. What we are doing is sending a variety of…”

“I am going to vote for this resolution, but I am very troubled about it. What we are doing is sending a variety of messages. The situation is very, very tense. Last time we sent a signal to Taiwan that we should invite its President here, I voted for that. It caused irreparable damage to our foreign policy, especially our relationship with China. I know that we are all concerned about Chinese policy toward the United States, toward human rights, toward nonproliferation. I recognize that. But there are 2.25 billion people there, and we need to start getting along with them. I found the Chinese actions outrageous on a number of issues, but at the same time what we are doing here today is possibly exacerbating an already very tense situation. We are sending different signals about what U.S. policy is. We have got the executive branch policy and now we have a new policy that the House of Representatives is going to send. A key clause of this resolution says, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act and the constitutional process of the United States, the United States should assist in defending against invasion, missile attack, or blockade by the People's Republic of China.”