About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (January 10, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekea0001 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. Competing interests among the United States, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China (PRC or China)-namely the PRC's determination to unify with Taiwan, official and popular Taiwan resistance to absorption by the PRC, and U.S. security interests and commitments related to Taiwan-raise the specter of U.S.-PRC armed conflict over Taiwan's fate. 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 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 Facing defeat at the hands of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in a civil war on mainland China, in 1949, 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 Updated January 10, 2023 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 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 2024. In August 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan since 1997. The PRC's People's Liberation Army (PLA) responded to the visit by conducting exercises in six locations around Taiwan. PRC state media portrayed the activities as intended to demonstrate how the PLA could isolate and attack Taiwan, including by blockading ports, attacking military bases on Taiwan's east coast, and controlling access to the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. The exercises, which included missile test-launches over Taiwan, were unprecedented in scale and established a new normal in which PLA ships and aircraft now operate closer to Taiwan and with more regularity. The PRC also suspended some cooperation with the United States and announced sanctions against Pelosi and her family. Pelosi's successor as Speaker in the 118th Congress, Kevin McCarthy, stated in July 2022 that he, too, would like to lead a delegation to Taiwan as Speaker. U.S. Pocy 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 U.S.-China joint 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 assurances that in negotiating the 1982 communique, the United States did not agree to consult with the PRC on arms sales to Taiwan or to take any position regarding

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most