Updated August 19, 2020
Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues
Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China
The KMT maintained authoritarian one-party rule on
(ROC), is an island democracy of 23.6 million people
Taiwan until 1987, when popular pressure forced it to allow
located across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China.
political liberalization. Taiwan held its first direct
U.S.-Taiwan relations have been unofficial since January 1,
parliamentary election in 1992 and its first direct
1979, when the Carter Administration established
presidential election in 1996. The May 2016 inauguration
diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China
of current President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic
(PRC) and broke formal diplomatic ties with self-ruled
Progressive Party (DPP) marked Taiwan’s third peaceful
Taiwan, over which the PRC claims sovereignty. The
transfer of political power from one party to another.
Taiwan Relations Act (TRA, P.L. 96-8; 22 U.S.C. 3301 et
In January 2020 elections, President Tsai was reelected to a
seq.), enacted on April 10, 1979, provides a legal basis for
second four-year term with 57.1% of the vote. The DPP lost
this unofficial bilateral relationship. It also includes
7 seats in the 113-seat legislature, but retained its majority,
commitments related to Taiwan’s security. For discussion
of issues related to Taiwan’s economy, see
with 61 seats. The KMT now controls 38 seats, a gain of 3.
CRS In Focus
The results empowered Tsai to move forward with an
IF10256, U.S.-Taiwan Trade Relations, by Karen M. Sutter.
agenda includes demanding “respect from China” for what
Taiwan’s Modern History
she calls Taiwan’s “separate identity.” Taiwan’s widely
In 1949, after losing a civil war on mainland China to the
lauded response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
Communist Party of China, the Kuomintang (KMT), the
19) pandemic has bolstered Tsai’s public support. Taiwan
ruling party of the ROC, moved its seat of government to
has recorded seven COVID-19 deaths.
Taipei. For decades after, the KMT continued to assert that
U.S. Commitments Related to Taiwan
its ROC government was the sole legitimate government of
all China. In 1971, however, U.N. General Assembly
Four documents underpin the U.S. “one-China policy” and
Resolution 2758 recognized the PRC’s representatives as
U.S. relations with Taiwan: joint communiqués concluded
“the only legitimate representatives of China to the United
with the PRC in 1972, 1978, and 1982, plus the TRA. The
Nations,” and expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai
U.S. “one
-
-China policy” is distinct from the PRC’s “one-
shek,” the ROC’s
China principle,”
then-leader. Taiwan remains outside the
which asserts that Taiwan is part of
United Nations. Taiwan today claims “effective
China. In the three communiqués, the United States
jurisdiction” over Taiwan, the archipelagos of Penghu,
recognized the PRC as the “sole legal government of
China”; acknowledged, though did not affirm, “
Kinmen, and Matsu, and some smaller islands. It also
the Chinese
claims disputed islands in the East and South China Seas.
position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of
China”; and pledged to maintain only unofficial relations
Figure 1. Taiwan
with Taiwan. The United States does not take a position on
Taiwan’s future political status, except that it be resolved
peacefully, without resort to threats or use of force.
Key provisions of the TRA include the following:
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 and is staffed by
U.S. government personnel assigned or detailed to AIT.)
It is U.S. policy “to maintain the capacity of the United
States to resist any resort to force or other forms of
coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social
or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.”
The United States “will make available to Taiwan such
defense articles and defense services in such quantity as
may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a
sufficient self-defense capability.”
The TRA does not require the United States to defend
Taiwan, but states that it is U.S. policy to maintain the
Sources: Graphic by CRS. Map generated by Hannah Fischer using
capacity to do so, creating “strategic ambiguity” regarding
data from NGA (2017); DoS (2015); Esri (2014); DeLorme (2014).
the U.S. role in the event of a PRC attack on Taiwan.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues
The Six Assurances
The PRC, Taiwan, and “One China”
President Ronald Reagan communicated what became
The PRC maintains that mainland China and Taiwan are
known as the “Six Assurances” to Taiwan before the
parts of “one China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided.
announcement of the 1982 U.S.-PRC communiqué, which
The PRC’s 2005 Anti-Secession Law commits Beijing to
focused on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. The assurances
“do its utmost with maximum sincerity to achieve a
included that in the negotiations with the PRC, the United
peaceful unification” with Taiwan. It states, however, that
States did not agree “to engage in prior consultations with
in the case of Taiwan’s “secession” from China, or if the
Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan,” and did not agree to set a
PRC concludes that possibilities for peaceful unification
date for ending arms sales to Taiwan. In August 2019, the
have been exhausted, “the state shall employ non-peaceful
Trump Administration declassified a 1982 internal
means and other necessary measures to protect China’s
presidential memo clarifying that, “the U.S. willingness to
sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In 2019, PRC
reduce its arms sales to Taiwan is conditioned absolutely
President Xi recommitted the PRC to peaceful unification,
upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful
but reserved the option to use force. He called for exploring
solution of the Taiwan-PRC differences.”
“a Taiwan plan for ‘one country, two systems,’” a reference
Trump Administration Policy
to an arrangement under which mainland China and Taiwan
would be parts of one country, but maintain different
The Trump Administration has sought to “strengthen and
deepen”
political and other systems, as in Hong Kong. After China’s
bilateral relations with Taiwan, even as it states
June 2020 imposition of a national security law on Hong
that it remains committed to the post-1979 framework of
Kong, President Tsai declared the approach “not viable.”
unofficial U.S.-Taiwan relations. A May 2019 meeting
between the U.S. and Taiwan National Security Advisors
Unlike her KMT predecessor, President Tsai has not
was the first such meeting publicly disclosed in the era of
endorsed the “1992 consensus,” under which Taiwan and
unofficial relations. In August 2020, Secretary of Health
the PRC acknowledged “one China,” but retained their own
and Human Services Alex Azar became the first U.S.
interpretations of what it meant. In a BBC interview after
cabinet member to visit Taiwan since 2014 and the seventh
her reelection, Tsai said, “We don’t have a need to declare
to do so since 1979. In January and May 2020, U.S.
ourselves an independent state. We are an independent
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo issued statements
country already and we call ourselves the Republic of
congratulating Tsai, respectively, on her reelection and the
China (Taiwan).” In 2016, the PRC suspended contacts
start of her second term, making him the highest-level U.S.
with Taiwan’s government over Tsai’s unwillingness to
official ever to have issued such statements. The May
endorse the “1992 consensus.”
statement drew a rebuke from China, which demanded in a
Since 2016, the PRC has established diplomatic relations
rare Foreign Ministry statement that the United States “stop
with eight countries that previously recognized Taiwan:
official interactions and moves aimed at upgrading
first the Gambia, then Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the
substantive relations with Taiwan” and “stop meddling in
Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, the
China’s internal affairs.”
Solomon Islands, and Kiribati. The PRC has also stepped
An increasingly prominent element of U.S. policy is an
up military patrols and exercises around Taiwan and
effort to help Taiwan strengthen its relations with other
blocked Taiwan’s attendance as an observer at annual
countries, particularly the 15 countries that maintain
World Health Assembly meetings, which Taiwan attended
diplomatic relations with Taiwan, rather than the PRC. In
from 2009 to 2016. The PRC has offered carrots, too:
2019, Japan joined the United States and Taiwan as a
2018’s “31 measures” and 2019’s “26 measures,” intended
formal member of the Global Cooperation and Training
to improve living and working conditions and business
Framework, which convenes workshops to share Taiwan’s
opportunities for Taiwan people in mainland China.
expertise with other countries. Also in 2019, the United
Select Legislation in the 116th Congress
States and Taiwan launched Indo-Pacific Democratic
Governance Consultations, to help Indo-Pacific countries
Section 1258 of the Senate-passed National Defense
address governance challenges, and a new Pacific Islands
Authorization Act for FY2021 (S. 4049) would state that it
Dialogue, to help “meet the development needs of Taiwan’s
is U.S. policy “that nothing in the [TRA] constrains
diplomatic partners in the Pacific.”
deepening, to the extent possible, the extensive, close, and
friendly relations” with Taiwan, “including defense
Although the United States terminated its Mutual Defense
Treaty with Taiwan in 1980, it engages with Taiwan’s
relations,” and that the U.S. Armed Forces will maintain the
capacity “to deny a ‘fait accompli’ operation by the [PRC]
military through dialogues, training, and arms sales, with a
to rapidly seize control of Taiwan.” The House-passed
focus on encouraging Taiwan to field “credible, resilient,
William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense
and cost-effective capabilities.” The Trump Administration
Authorization Act for FY2021 (H.R. 6395) does not include
has notified Congress of 14 proposed major Foreign
parallel provisions. Both bills would, however, urge
Military Sales cases for Taiwan, with a combined value of
“practical training and military exercises” with Taiwan; the
about $13.2 billion. The U.S. Navy has conducted 10
Senate bill would state that it is U.S. policy for such
Taiwan Strait transits in 2020, the same number as in all of
activities to include, “as appropriate, the Rim of the Pacific
2019. On June 9, 2020, a U.S. Navy C-40 transport plane
exercise, combined training at the National Training Center
flew over Taiwan with Taiwan’s permission. In apparent
at Fort Erwin, and bilateral naval exercises and training.”
response, Chinese Su-30 fighter jets briefly entered
Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone.
Both bills would call for port calls in Taiwan with the U.S.
Navy hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Taiwan: Select Political and Security Issues
IF10275
Susan V. Lawrence, Specialist in Asian Affairs
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