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1 1 (December 08, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdcws0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Taiwan: Political and Security Issues Updated December 8, 2020 Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China (ROC), is an island democracy of 23.6 million people located across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial since January 1, 1979, when the Carter Administration established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and broke formal diplomatic ties with self-ruled Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty. The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C. 3301 et seq.), enacted on April 10, 1979, provides a legal basis for this unofficial bilateral relationship. It also includes commitments related to Taiwan's security. For discussion of economic issues, see CRS In Focus IF10256, U.S.- Taiwan Trade Relations, by Karen M. Sutter. fTawan's Moern H istory In 1949, after losing a civil war on mainland China to the Communist Party of China, the ROC's ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), moved the ROC seat of government to Taiwan. The KMT continued to assert that the ROC was the sole legitimate government of all China. In 1971, however, U.N. General Assembly 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. Taiwan remains outside the United Nations. It today claims effective jurisdiction over Taiwan, the archipelagos of Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, and some smaller islands. It also claims disputed islands in the East and South China Seas. Figure I. Taiwan .~ Z~' :: . xs pe9 Xx- xxx*: y ;. #xt \ . u tk .. .. t {z1z «-q:.......... . oaf: ................................. ................................ ... . .....::::::>::::::>::::::>::::>:: :.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;:.;::. r .. ::::::::::::::::::::::::: . ..a ........................,:. \ N At EE The KMT maintained authoritarian one-party rule on Taiwan until 1987, when popular pressure forced it to allow political liberalization. Taiwan held its first direct parliamentary election in 1992 and its first direct presidential election in 1996. The May 2016 inauguration of current President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) marked Taiwan's third peaceful transfer of political power from one party to another. In January 2020 elections, voters elected President Tsai to a second four-year term with 57.1% of the vote. The DPP lost 7 seats in the 113-seat legislature, but retained its majority, with 61 seats. The KMT now controls 38 seats, a gain of 3. The results empowered Tsai to move forward with an agenda that includes demanding respect from China for what she calls Taiwan's separate identity. Taiwan's widely lauded response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has bolstered public support for her. The PRC seeks to enforce a one China principle, under which other countries affirm that Taiwan is part of China. The United States adheres to its own one-China policy, which the Trump Administration presents as based on U.S.- PRC joint communiqu6s concluded in 1972, 1978, and 1982, the TRA, and Six Assurances that President Ronald Reagan communicated to Taiwan in 1982, shortly before the release of the third U.S.-PRC joint communiqu6. In the communiqu6s, the United States recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China; acknowledged, but did not affirm, the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China; and pledged to maintain only unofficial relations with Taiwan. In the 1982 communiqu6, the United States stated that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan. Key provisions of the TRA include the following: * Relations with Taiwan shall be carried out through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private corporation. (AIT Taipei performs many of the same functions as U.S. embassies elsewhere and is staffed by U.S. government personnel assigned or detailed to AIT.) * It is U.S. policy to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan. * 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 capability. The 1982 Six Assurances, which the Trump Administration declassified in 2020, include assurances that in negotiations with the PRC, the United States did not agree to consult with the PRC on arms sales to Taiwan, did not agree to set a -.-,'~-' *.~ Sources: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014). z:

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