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1 1 (September 26, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbben0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues 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. Since January 1, 1979, U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial, a consequence of the Carter Administration's decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and break 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. Trump Administration Policy After initially questioning the long-standing U.S. one- China policy, President Donald J. Trump used a February 2017 telephone call with PRC President Xi Jinping to recommit the United States to the policy, under which the United States maintains only unofficial ties with Taiwan, while upholding the TRA. Using language consistent with that of previous administrations, the Trump Administration's December 2017 National Security Strategy states that the United States will maintain our strong ties with Taiwan in accordance with our 'One China' policy, including our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide for Taiwan's legitimate defense needs and deter coercion. Since 2017, the Administration has at times made statements and taken actions that have diverged from past practice. In May 2019, the United States hosted a meeting between the U.S. and Taiwan National Security Advisors, reportedly the first such meeting in the era of unofficial relations. In June 2019, the Department of Defense released an Indo-Pacific Strategy Report in which it referred to Taiwan as a country, and made no reference to the U.S. one-China policy. On September 13, 2019, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the non-profit corporation through which the United States conducts unofficial relations with Taiwan, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), the entity that acts on behalf of Taiwan in the United States, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding certain consular functions. Although consular relations usually imply official relations, the MOU refers not to governments but to the authorities that AIT and TECRO represent. In September 18, 2019, testimony before the House of Representatives, however, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell signaled a commitment to the traditional framework of relations. He referred to Taiwan as a non-state entity and referenced 1970s-era U.S.-China communiques addressing U.S. relations with the PRC and Taiwan, stating, We, certainly, want to remain inside our own commitments to the PRC. Updated September 26, 2019 Taiwan's Modern History China's Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The Republic of China, which was founded in 1912 on mainland China and led by the Kuomintang Party (KMT), assumed control of Taiwan in 1945, after Japan's defeat in World War II. In 1949, after losing a civil war to the Communist Party of China, the KMT moved the seat of the ROC to Taipei, and the Communists established the PRC on mainland China. Figure I. Taiwan Source: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014). Long after the retreat to Taiwan, the KMT continued to assert that the ROC government was the sole legitimate government of all China. In 1971, however, United Nations 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 president at the time. Taiwan has remained outside the United Nations ever since. Taiwan today claims effective jurisdiction only 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. On Taiwan, the KMT maintained authoritarian one-party rule until 1987, when it began allowing 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 2016, the DPP also ended the KNIT's ht

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