Maintaining Unofficial Relations With the People on Taiwan

This executive order delegates presidential functions under the Taiwan Relations Act to the Secretary of State and OPM Director, specifies procurement law exemptions for the American Institute on Taiwan, and formally determines that TECRO (formerly CCNAA) is Taiwan's authorized representative instrumentality. It supersedes EO 12143 from 1979.

Federal Register Open PDF 61 FR 42963

Impact dates

Aug 15, 1996
EO effective; delegations and TECRO determination take effect

Key directives

Delegate all Taiwan Relations Act functions to Secretary of State (except reserved functions)
Delegate section 11(a)(1)-(2) functions to OPM Director
Reserve to President: section 3, second sentence of 9(b), and section 10(a) determinations
Exempt Institute procurement from 9 specified federal contracting statutes
Authorize cost-type contract amendments without consideration
Authorize other contract amendments without consideration upon Secretary's foreign policy determination
Determine TECRO as successor instrumentality to CCNAA under section 10(a)
Continue Carter memorandum agreements in force
Supersede EO 12143

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

Delegation of functions to Secretary of State and OPM Director takes effect
TECRO determination becomes effective
EO 12143 superseded

Near term (90d)

Implementation of procurement exemptions for Institute contracts

Long term

Ongoing unofficial U.S.-Taiwan relations framework
Continued validity of pre-existing CCNAA agreements

Risks & tensions

Creates legal ambiguity by maintaining 'unofficial' relations through nominally private entity with federal employees
Procurement exemptions from standard contracting laws may reduce oversight and accountability
TECRO/CCNAA continuity clause preserves prior agreements but may obscure chain of legal authority
Foreign policy determination authority concentrated in Secretary without congressional review mechanism
Vague: 'as he deems appropriate' consultation language for Secretary's redelegation