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1 1 (March 31, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/goveldh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Se inforrning the legislative debate sin co 1914 Updated March 31, 2023 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 et seq.) provides a legal basis for unofficial relations. See also CRS In Focus IF10256, U.S.- Taiwan Trade Relations. The PRC's 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 have led some U.S. policymakers, including some Members of Congress, to expand efforts to deter 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 H istory 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 representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, the ROC's then- leader. Taiwan today is not a member of the U.N. 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 113-member Legislative Yuan. Taiwan is to hold presidential and legislative elections on January 13, 2024. After two consecutive terms as president, Tsai is ineligible to run again. Vice President Lai Ching-te (William Lai) is the DPP's presumptive presidential candidate. Other Taiwan political parties have yet to select their presidential candidates. With the election looming, Tsai on March 29, 2023, embarked on a 10-day trip to Taiwan diplomatic partners Guatemala and Belize, with transit stops planned in New York City and Los Angeles. Media reports indicate that Tsai's April 5-7 Los Angeles stop may include a meeting with the House Speaker and other Members. After Tsai's arrival in New York, a PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused the United States and Taiwan of seeking to use Tsai's transit stops to upgrade official exchanges and substantive relations, and urged the United States to stop all forms of official interaction with Taiwan. The spokesperson called Taiwan the very core of China's core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in U.S.-PRC relations. US. 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. 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 :e

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