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1 1 (April 29, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/govepwz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con ressbn I Research Se infourii £ th Lg~ 'ktv d~d ~n 1 14 Updated April 29, 2024 Taiwan: Background and U.S. Relations Introduct on Taiwan, which also calls itself the Republic of China (ROC), 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 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 Source: Graphic by CRS. Modern History 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 Kuomintang (KMT)-led ROC government retreated to Taiwan, and the CPC established 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 communiqu6, the United States, too, recognized the PRC as the sole legal Government of China, and stated that it would henceforth maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan. The KMT maintained martial law on Taiwan until 1987, when it yielded to public pressure for political liberalization. Taiwan held its first direct election for the legislature, the Legislative Yuan (LY), in 1992, and its first direct election for president in 1996. 2024 Political Trans ton Taiwan held presidential and legislative elections on January 13, 2024. Term limits made President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ineligible to run again. The DPP's presidential candidate was Lai Ching-te (William Lai), Tsai's Vice President. He won with 40.05% of the vote in a three-way race. The DPP is the first party to win a third consecutive presidential term by direct election. In the 113-seat LY, the DPP lost its majority. No party won a majority, the first such outcome since 2004. The KMT, now Taiwan's leading opposition party and supportive of greater engagement with the PRC, won 52 seats, to the DPP's 51. KMT-aligned independents won 2 seats. The Taiwan People's Party (TPP), founded in 2019 with the goal of challenging the dominance of the DPP and KMT, won 8 seats, meaning it holds the balance of power in the LY. The new LY took office on February 1 and elected Han Kuo-yu of the KMT as its new president, or speaker. Lai and Vice-President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim are scheduled to be inaugurated on May 20. Lai's announced cabinet appointments include familiar figures from the Tsai Administration in key national security roles. Current Presidential Secretary General Lin Chia-lung is to be Foreign Minister, succeeding Joseph Wu, who is to lead the National Security Council, replacing Wellington Koo, who is to be Defense Minister. On the campaign trail, Lai pledged continuity with President Tsai's policies, including four commitments on cross-Strait relations that she first articulated in 2021. They are commitments (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 has assailed the second item, in particular, for implying that the cross-Strait relationship is akin to two separate states. Pre-election, the PRC's Taiwan Affairs Office urged Taiwan voters to reject

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