American Policy Toward Taiwan: The Issue of the De Facto and De Jure Status of Taiwan and Sovereignty
![handle is hein.journals/bufhr2 and id is 329 raw text is: AMERICAN POLICY TOWARD TAIWAN:
THE ISSUE OF THE DE FACTO AND DE JURE
STATUS OF TAIWAN AND SOVEREIGNTY
Stephen Lee*
With its twenty-one million people, 36,000 square kilometers
(about 11,000 square miles) of territory, and centralized government,
it is an undeniable fact that Taiwan is an independent political entity.
This entity ruled by the nationalist party (or KMT), under the national
title of Republic of China (ROC), is generally referred to as Taiwan
in the international community. Thus, according to international law,
Taiwan has fulfilled all the requirements of an independent nation.
Nonetheless, since the People's Republic of China (PRC)
replaced the Republic of China (ROC) as the only legitimate
representative of China to the United Nations in 197 1,1 Taiwan has
lost its membership in the United Nations and its dejure statehood
has been obscured. However, the most serious impact on the status
of Taiwan is the U.S. government's policies toward it.
On January 1, 1979, the Carter administration established
formal diplomatic relations with the PRC and disconnected official
U.S. ties with the ROC.2 This US policy was made official by
issuance of a joint communique stating: [t]he Government of the
United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that
there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.3 Meanwhile, the
Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 was enacted to maintain the
* Associate Professor of Law, Taiwan Theological Seminary; Chairman of the
Taiwan Bar Association Commission on Human Rights; L.L.B., L.L.M., M.C.L.,
University of Illinois.
U.N. GAOR, 26th Sess., Supp. No. 29, at 2, U.N. Doe. A/8429 (1971).
2 President Jimmy Carter, Address to the Nation and Communique on the
Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the United States and the People's
Republic of China, (Dec. 15, 1978), in 14 WEEKLY COMPILATiON OF PRESIDENTIAL
DOCUMENTS, 2264 (1978).
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American Policy Toward Taiwan: The Issue of the De Facto and De Jure Status of Taiwan and Sovereignty
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