Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank very much Chair Kim for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, what a marvelous signal it sends to the world and to the United States to have Young Kim as our chair on the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the Indo-Pacific. She is a young woman born in South Korea, a proud American citizen, a proud American mom, and now Member of Congress and spectacular chair.

Mr. Speaker, to my other friend from California, Mr. Sherman, I think he has made some outstanding arguments on behalf of our bill, and I thank him for being an original cosponsor of H.R. 554, the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act.

I modeled this bill on the Holding Iranian Leaders Accountable Act included in our national security package, which the House passed and President Biden signed into law this spring.

The idea is very straightforward: If we want to see the world's Communists and autocratic dictatorships change course, we must expose their wealth, corruption, and financial privilege of their elites to the citizens suffering daily under their rule.

This approach certainly applies to China's Communist Party, as well. The CCP leaders sit atop an authoritarian state littered with cronyism, kickbacks, graft, bribery, and a colossal misuse of public funds.

If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, H.R. 554 requires the Treasury Secretary to publish the illicit assets of Beijing's senior-most leaders, including the names of financial institutions that maintain the accounts.

As Mr. Sherman noted, our 1979 recognition of the government in Peking, now Beijing, rests on the foundation that the future of Taiwan would be determined by peaceful means and that any other method, including boycotts or embargoes, is considered a threat to peace and security in the western Pacific.

At a time when the Chinese youth face a 17 percent unemployment rate, Xi has failed to deliver a social safety net, and families are battered by sinking real estate debt. Let these corrupt officials explain to ordinary Chinese citizens how they acquired their riches on a government salary, even as they call on their public to support war across the Taiwan Strait.

This bill goes beyond just naming and shaming. It will also cut off access to the United States financial system for those CCP officials and their immediate family. This point is worth highlighting in order to convey the costs that Beijing will bear if they impose an embargo, boycott, or launch military action. Blocking Chinese leaders' use of the dollar will certainly be mirrored by restrictions from other major economies, as well. Further, for Chinese officials whose families profit from their ill-gotten gains, they too will find the world becoming a much smaller place.

In 2012, The Washington Post reported that most of China's politburo standing committee have children or grandchildren studying here in the United States, including CCP Chairman, Xi Jinping. Such privileges will be put in jeopardy if China decides to act against Taiwan. H.R. 554 guarantees it.

Let me underline one other detail of this legislation, which is central to how it works.

The bill triggers reporting on China's leadership, but it also contains exemptions for those who cooperate with the United States. If Chairman Xi engages in hostilities against Taiwan, the asset report required by this bill might leave out a number of his colleagues, but is this because the Treasury Secretary simply targeted other individuals or because the unnamed officials turned state's evidence, earning themselves an exemption from the U.S. sanctions?

No one in the CCP will ever know for sure.

By the same token, everyone covered by this bill has an incentive to turn against the politburo if they determine to take aggressive action in violation of their commitments against Taiwan before it is too late for them and they see their finances laid bare.

The legislation treats the CCP like the kleptocratic centrally planned Communist state that it is. It is the same way we frequently have defeated organized crime, sowing distrust and paranoia. We must do the same in Beijing if China moves against Taiwan.

Mr. Speaker, as Mr. Sherman noted, no one wishes to see conflict involving Taiwan, but we want to deter China from their worst instincts of potentially taking hostile actions. We must signal those consequences clearly and early.

Earlier this summer, Taiwan recorded 66 Chinese military planes operating around the island setting a single-day record. Fifty-six of those aircraft entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone.

Last month, Taiwan's defense ministry reported to lawmakers in Taipei how Beijing is developing new weapons and tactics to pressure the island. It is up to Congress and the executive branch to communicate that war across the Taiwan Strait would destroy the global economy, impoverish the Chinese people, and now, thanks to H.R. 554, impose significant personal costs for the Chinese elite and high-ranking CCP members, but the time to do this is before the outbreak of any threats or hostilities.

Again, I thank Chairwoman Kim and my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee for endorsing this legislation during its markup.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all our colleagues to support this bill with a ``yes'' vote.

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