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1 1 (February 17, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekqh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service infwrring the iegislative debate since 1914 Taiwan: Political and Security Issues Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China (ROC), is a self-governing democracy of 23 million people located across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. Its government claims effective jurisdiction over the island of Taiwan, the archipelagos of Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, and other outlying islands. Taiwan also claims disputed geographic features in the East and South China Seas. U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial since January 1, 1979, when the United States established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and broke them with Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C. §3301) provides a legal basis for unofficial relations. See also CRS In Focus IF10256, U.S.-Taiwan Trade Relations. The PRC's long-stated determination to unify with Taiwan, by force if necessary; resistance in Taiwan to absorption by the PRC; and U.S. security interests and commitments related to Taiwan combine to create the risk of possible future U.S.-PRC armed conflict over Taiwan. Figure I. Taiwan Sources: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014). Modern Hkitory In 1949, as it was losing a civil war on mainland China to the Communist Party of China (CPC), the ROC's then- ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), moved the ROC government to Taiwan. Until 1991, the KMT continued to assert that the ROC government on Taiwan 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 Updated February 17, 2023 representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, the ROC's then- leader. Taiwan remains outside the U.N. today. The KMT maintained authoritarian one-party rule on Taiwan until 1987, when it yielded to public pressure for political liberalization. The May 2016 inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) marked Taiwan's third peaceful transfer of political power from one party to another. Tsai won a second four- year term in 2020, and her party retained its majority in Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan. Taiwan is to hold presidential and legislative elections in early 2024. U.S. Policy Toward Taiwan Since 1979, the United States has maintained a one-China policy, which it currently describes as being guided by the TRA; U.S.-PRC joint communiquds concluded in 1972, 1978, and 1982; and Six Assurances that President Ronald Reagan communicated to Taiwan's government in 1982. Under the one-China policy, the United States maintains official relations with the PRC and unofficial relations with Taiwan, sells defensive arms to Taiwan, supports peaceful resolution of cross-Strait differences, opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo (without explicitly defining the status quo), and states that it does not support independence for Taiwan. The U.S. one-China policy is distinct from the PRC's one China principle, which defines Taiwan as part of China. In the communiques, the U.S. government recognized the PRC government as the sole legal government of China, and acknowledged, but did not endorse, the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. The Six Assurances include statements to Taiwan that in negotiating the 1982 joint communique with the PRC, the United States did not agree to consult with the PRC on arms sales to Taiwan or to take any position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan. (See CRS In Focus IF11665, President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan.) Key provisions of the TRA include the following: U.S. 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.) 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 President is directed to inform the Congress promptly of any threat to the security or the social or economic system of the people on Taiwan and any danger to the interests of the United States arising therefrom. The President and the Congress shall determine... appropriate action by the United States in response to any such danger.

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