; (C) was built with a combination of materials from the United States and Taiwan; (D) will be staffed by a workforce of approximately 500 employees from the United States, Taiwan, and other countries; and (E) will host a permanent Art in AIT collection of works by United States and Taiwan artists that embodies the artistic and cultural confluences of innumerable person-to-person ties that link Taiwan and the United States; (2) also has a branch office in Kaohsiung, which has more than 30 employees; and (3) processed 34,000 visas in 2017; Whereas President Tsai Ing-wen visited the American Institute of Taiwan on May 15, 2018, and plans to attend its official opening on June 12, 2018; Whereas since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has intensified its efforts to exclude Taiwan from international organizations; Whereas in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review, the United States declared its intention to support Taiwan’s participation in appropriate international organizations; Whereas Taiwan is a full member of the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the Asian Development Bank; Whereas according to the Department of State, the United States supports Taiwan’s membership in international organizations that do not require statehood as a condition of membership and encourages Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations where its membership is not possible ; Whereas Taiwan maintains full diplomatic relations with 18 nations around the world; Whereas on February 28, 2018, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Taiwan Travel Act ( Public Law 115–135 ), which was signed into law on March 16, 2018, declaring that it should be the policy of the United States to allow officials at all levels of the United States Government to visit Taiwan in their official capacities