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1 1 (July 25, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveilx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the Iegislative debate sin ce 1914 Taiwan: Political and Security Issues Updated July 25, 2022 Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China (ROC), is a 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. The People's Republic of China's (PRC's or China's) stated determination to unify with Taiwan at an unspecified future date, combined with U.S. security commitments related to Taiwan, make Taiwan the hotspot that could most plausibly draw the United States and China into armed conflict. U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial since January 1, 1979, when the United States established diplomatic relations with the PRC and broke them with self-ruled Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C. §§3301 et seq.) provides a legal basis for unofficial relations. See also CRS In Focus IF10256, U.S.-Taiwan Trade Relations. Figure I. Taiwan Sources: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014). Modern History and Current Events In 1949, at the end of a civil war on mainland China with 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 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 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. Tsai won a second four-year term in 2020, and her party retained its majority in Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan. Taiwan is scheduled to hold elections for nine categories of local elected office on November 26, 2022. The most recent flashpoint in U.S.-Taiwan-PRC relations has been news of a possible visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the House. In recent years, some Members of Congress have argued that the U.S. government should encourage visits between U.S. and Taiwan officials at all levels, in part to improve high-level communication. That position was enacted into law in 2018's Taiwan Travel Act (P.L. 115- 135). If the Speaker were to travel to Taiwan this summer, she would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997. She would be visiting at a time when the Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened concerns about the potential for PRC military action to pressure Taiwan to accept integration into the PRC, and at a sensitive political moment for China. China's leader, Xi Jinping, is believed to be seeking appointment to a norm-breaking third term as China's top leader at a CPC Congress in the fall, a quest already complicated by economic, social, and public health challenges in China. Some analysts believe the political moment may make a muscular PRC response to any visit by the Speaker more likely. Others argue that it might make the PRC leadership more risk averse. On July 25, a PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned that if the trip goes forward, the Chinese side will take firm and strong measures to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity. He preceded that statement with a phrase that the ministry translated as, We are fully prepared for any eventuality. A standard PRC dictionary translates the phrase as, We stand in combat readiness. Asked on July 20, 2022, about a possible trip by the Speaker, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. said, the military thinks it's not a good idea right now. The next day, the Speaker herself declined to discuss her travel plans. When asked about how to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, she said, it's important for us to show support for Taiwan. US. Policy Toward Taiwan Since 1979, the United States has maintained a one-China policy, now guided by the Taiwan Relations Act; U.S.- PRC joint communiques concluded in 1972, 1978, and 1982; and Six Assurances that President Ronald Reagan communicated to Taiwan in 1982. Under the policy, which

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