by Liam Nawara
In early September 2019, both Kiribati and the Solomon Islands announced that they would cut their diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Instead, both countries announced that they would establish diplomatic relationships with the People’s Republic of China, leaving Taiwan with diplomatic recognition from only fifteen nations. These actions are part of a growing trend as more nations switch their diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China, often accepting China’s claim that Taiwan is a breakaway province from the PRC. The United States, however, despite diplomatically recognizing the PRC, supports Taiwan and is one of its major allies. This complex diplomatic relationship between the United States and Taiwan has important ramifications that could impact the world. In order to support Taiwan, the United States must recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, form official diplomatic relationships, and give Taiwan the military aid it needs to deter Chinese aggression.
To understand the United States’ relationship with Taiwan, one must first learn the historical context behind the creation of the modern Taiwanese State. The tense relationship between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan is characterized by their disagreement over who the rightful Chinese government is. This conflict stems from the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War between the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-Shek. A Chinese Communist military victory in 1949 led to the founding of the People’s Republic of China. With mainland China under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist army and 1.5 million Chinese refugees fled to the island of Taiwan, reestablishing their government with a capital in the city of Taipei.
The United Nations and much of the world outside of the communist bloc recognized Taiwan as the legitimate Chinese state until 1971 when Taiwan was kicked out of the UN in a General Assembly resolution opposed by the United States. Since then, the PRC has embarked on an international diplomatic campaign to discredit Taiwan. The PRC does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation; rather it views Taiwan as a rogue province is rightfully theirs. The PRC has engaged in hostile military actions against Taiwan in the three Taiwan Strait Crises. All three crises were countered when the U.S. sent military aid to Taiwan and deployed warships in shows of force against China. China today continues to be the greatest threat to Taiwan’s existence and in 2017, China’s President Xi Jinping said that Taiwan would be brought back into China by 2049, the hundredth anniversary of the PRC.
In 1979, the United States officially recognized the People’s Republic of China as the official Chinese state. Since then, U.S. policy towards Taiwan has been to maintain unofficial, but substantial, relations with the Taiwanese government as defined by the Taiwan Relations Act passed in 1979. Today, the United States’ de facto embassy in Taiwan is called the American Institute in Taiwan, a U.S. government-sponsored non-profit that maintains many of the functions of a normal consulate or embassy. The Taiwanese government has a similar institution in the United States, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. Through the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, the United States maintains these unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The act also stipulates that the United States must provide Taiwan with weapons for its own defense. In accordance with the act, the United States has sold Taiwan weapons such as planes, warships, and surface-to-air missile batteries. As recently as July of 2019, the United States approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan that included new fighter aircraft and tanks to enhance Taiwan’s ability to fend off a Chinese invasion.
As part of its efforts to bring Taiwan into the Chinese sphere of influence, the PRC has engaged in an international campaign to force nations to only maintain diplomatic relations with the PRC, not Taiwan. This campaign has been largely successful in recent years and has almost achieved its goal of diplomatically isolating Taiwan from the rest of the world. The PRC used incentives for the isolation of Taiwan by promising the few countries that still recognize Taiwan. These incentives, including large loans, economic investment, and other economic and military actions, pressure these countries to drop their diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and instead diplomatically recognize the PRC.
The future of the U.S. relationship with Taiwan will have significant consequences for the Asia-Pacific region and has the potential to reduce Chinese influence. To reduce China’s global and regional influence, the United States needs to strengthen its diplomatic and military bonds with Taiwan. A key part of this strategy should be dropping the United States’ policy of diplomatically recognizing the PRC as the sole legitimate Chinese state. Instead, the United States should maintain its diplomatic relations with the PRC, but also recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. The benefits of such an action are clear. Recognizing Taiwan would send a powerful signal to the PRC and other nations in the region that the United States has recommitted to support its allies and democracies in the Asia-Pacific Rim. Furthermore, Taiwan has already operated as an independent state for decades, maintaining its own democracy with free and fair elections. Taiwan had its most recent election this January, demonstrating once again that it is a free and functioning democracy. Taiwan also maintains its own economy, the 7th largest in Asia. Taiwan's economy continues to grow and currently has record low unemployment with its capitalist economic system. Along with maintaining an independent system of government and economy, Taiwan maintains its own military meant to deter China from invading or otherwise interfering with Taiwan.
Along with granting Taiwan diplomatic recognition, the United States should continue to support Taiwan with military arms sales and aid. Although in recent years Taiwan has been making strides in developing a strong domestic defense-industrial complex, it is still reliant on the import of US military technology. Taiwan still requires aid in developing its domestic defense-industrial complex, in particular its ability to develop submarines. The United States should increase bilateral military exercises with Taiwan like the cyber warfare exercise held in recent years. Port visits by United States Navy ships and other vessels will show the United States’ continued support and resolve to defend a democratic Taiwan.
If the United States is to stay true to its values and remain a committed international partner to nations with strong human rights and free democracies, then the United States must recognize and support Taiwan. Supporting Taiwan while increasing Taiwan’s global recognition and preventing Taiwan from potentially being absorbed by the People’s Republic of China with the promise of one country, two systems. The protests in Hong Kong over the past year have revealed that the one country, two systems plan is woefully inadequate and crushes human rights, liberty, and democracy. If the United States supports Taiwan it will support a thriving democratic state that is committed to democracy, human rights, and liberty. Author’s Note: Taiwan is officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), but to limit confusion with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the ROC is referred to as “Taiwan” in this article.
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