John Cornyn: “we are talking about trade, how we create markets for what Americans grow or build and sell abroad, which creates jobs…”

“we are talking about trade, how we create markets for what Americans grow or build and sell abroad, which creates jobs here at home. But I wish to talk about a rather specialized area of trade, and that has to do with foreign military sales, and particularly I wish to talk about a topic Senator Menendez and I introduced a bill on last week called the Taiwan Air Power Modernization Act of 2011. This bill requires the U.S. Government to respond to the request of the Government of Taiwan for the sale of at least 66 F-16 C/D fighter aircraft to Taiwan. That sounds like a mouthful and a big subject, and it is, but let me try to put some meat on the bone and explain why I think this is so important. Support of the people of Taiwan has been a bipartisan priority for decades. Democrats and Republicans supported the Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan, signed by President Eisenhower in 1954. Democrats and Republicans came together and passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed by President Carter in 1979, and which remains the law of the land today. The Taiwan Relations Act states that the United States will provide to Taiwan the defense articles necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities in furtherance of maintaining peace and stability in the western Pacific region. What does sufficient self-defense capabilities mean? President Reagan, in a memorandum he dictated dated August 17, 1982, laid it out.…”