Taiwan

Key Issues

Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese in 1895 Treaty of Simonoseki, in which China ceded Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, and Penghu Islands to Japan “in perpetuity,” following China’s defeat to Japan in the Sino-Japanese war. From this point, Taiwan remained a Japanese colony until Japan’s defeat in WWII in 1945, at which point its fate remained suspended until the KuoMinTang led by Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war on the mainland. Chiang thereafter took over the island as an authoritarian dictator and established the Republic of China on the island. While originally proclaiming that the US would not intervene in cross-strait conflict in January 1950, President Harry Truman reversed this decision when the US decided to intervene in the Korean War months later. Subsequently, Truman sent the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait, blocking the possibility of invasion by Mao’s Chinese Communist Party. Chiang ruled until his death, at which point leadership was transferred to his son, Chiang Ching Kuo in 1978. Chiang had a dream of realizing the peaceful democratization of Taiwan, and in order to secure this future upon his death he transferred power to Taiwanese native Lee Teng-hui, who is known as the father of Taiwan’s democracy, holding its first democratic elections in 1992. To date Taiwan since its democratization has not yet been recognized as a sovereign state.

Although the Republic of China was officially recognized by the international community and retained its seat on the Security Council for a number of decades, in 1971, the US-China detente as negotiated by Nixon and Kissinger shifted official recognition as well as Taiwan’s membership in the United Nations to the communist People’s Republic of China under Mao Tse Tung. Since then key documents between the US and the PRC have defined the political status quo of the island. These were the US-PRC Joint Communiques of 1972, 1979, and 1982, as well as the Taiwan Relations Act passed by Congress in 1979. The Joint Communiques stipulated that both sides recognized that “there is only one China,” allowing for ambiguity on which of the Chinas was recognized by each respective side. The US has never recognized China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, nor has it recognized Taiwan as an independent sovereign state. (https://www.cogitasia.com/china-must-cease-willful-distortion-of-u-s-policy-toward-taiwan/) The Carter administration officially broke off relations with Taiwan and canceled the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty of December 1954, which the US had signed with the Republic of China. Prior to doing so, however, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act. The Taiwan Relations Act “makes clear that the US decision to establish relations with the PRC…rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.” The Taiwan Relations Act established nonofficial relations with Taiwan that defined de facto diplomatic relations through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and ensuring that Taiwan would continue to receive support with regards to military defense.

According to the Taiwan Relations Act, “the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capabilities.”

Additionally, “the United States will consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.”

Relevant History

Related Blog Entries

References

Glaser, Bonnie S. “China must cease willful distortion of US policy toward Taiwan,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, March 27, 2014. (https://www.cogitasia.com/china-must-cease-willful-distortion-of-u-s-policy-toward-taiwan/)

Taiwan Relations Act, 1979.