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1 1 (January 16, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveoab0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congress bnaI Research Se inforring the LegisItiv debad sinc 1914 Updated January 16, 2024 Taiwan: Background and U.S. Relations introduction Taiwan, which calls itself the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a self-governing democracy of 23.5 million people located across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. The United States terminated diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) on January 1, 1979, in order to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), which claims sovereignty over Taiwan. U.S. relations with Taiwan have been unofficial since that date. In establishing relations with the PRC, the U.S. government agreed to withdraw U.S. military personnel from Taiwan and terminate the U.S.-ROC Mutual Defense Treaty, as of January 1, 1980. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C. §3301 et seq.) provides a legal basis for unofficial relations. In its most recent fact sheet on U.S. relations with Taiwan, issued in May 2022, the U.S. State Department refers to the United States and Taiwan as enjoying a robust unofficial relationship. The fact sheet describes Taiwan as a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific, and states that the United States and Taiwan share similar values, deep commercial and economic links, and strong people-to-people ties. Figure I. Taiwan Sources: Graphic by CRS. Modern H istory Taiwan was a colony of Japan from 1895 to 1945. The government of the ROC, then based on mainland China, assumed control of Taiwan in 1945, after Japan's defeat in World War II. In 1949, after the forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC) wrested control of mainland China from ROC forces in a civil war, the ROC government retreated to Taiwan. After the establishment of the PRC on mainland China, the United States continued to recognize the ROC government on Taiwan as the government of all China. In 1971, U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 2758 recognized the PRC's representatives as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and expelled the representatives of Chiang Kai- shek, the ROC's then-leader. In a December 1978 U.S.- PRC joint communiqud, the United States, too, recognized the PRC as the sole legal Government of China. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party maintained martial law on Taiwan until 1987, when it yielded to public pressure for political liberalization. The 2016 inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) marked Taiwan's third peaceful transfer of political power between political parties. january 2024 Elections Taiwan held presidential and legislative elections on January 13, 2024. After two four-year terms in office, President Tsai was term-limited and ineligible to run again. Vice President Lai Ching-te and Taiwan's former unofficial representative to the United States, Bi-khim Hsiao, ran as the DPP ticket and won a three-way race for the presidency and vice-presidency, with 40.05% of the vote. The DPP is the first party to win a third consecutive presidential term since Taiwan first held direct presidential elections in 1996. Lai and Hsiao are to be inaugurated on May 20. In the January 2024 elections for Taiwan's legislature, the 113-seat Legislative Yuan (LY), no party won an absolute majority, the first such outcome since 2004. The DPP held the majority from 2016 to 2024. The KMT, now Taiwan's leading opposition party and supportive of closer ties with the PRC, won 52 LY seats, to the DPP's 51. The Taiwan People's Party (TPP), founded in 2019 with the goal of challenging the dominance of the DPP and KMT, won 8 LY seats. Independents won the remaining 2 seats. The new LY is to be seated on February 1. On the campaign trail, now-President-elect Lai pledged continuity with President Tsai's policies, though divided government could make it harder for him to implement his policies. Lai's platform included maintenance of the cross- Strait status quo through adherence to four commitments that Tsai first articulated in 2021. They are a commitment (1) to a free and democratic constitutional system, (2) to the principle that the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China should not be subordinate to each other, (3) to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty, and (4) to the principle that the future of the Republic of China (Taiwan) must be decided in accordance with the will of the Taiwanese people. The PRC, which insists that Taiwan is part of China, has assailed the second of those commitments as implying that the relationship between the PRC and Taiwan is akin to two states. Three days before the election, a spokesperson for the PRC's Taiwan Affairs Office warned Taiwan voters that Tsai's policies were a route to 'Taiwan independence,' and that :e

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