What are key developments in US-Taiwan ties?
Since the US embrace of the One-China Policy, which accepts Beijing’s sovereignty over all Chinese lands, Washington has followed a strategically ambiguous policy in regard to Taiwan.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, a largely unrecognised island state established by anti-communist Chinese dissidents in 1949, has visibly angered the world’s largest Communist-ruled country.
While the US has supported Taiwan both militarily and economically since the communist takeover of China in the late 1940s, Washington has also been careful not to antagonise Beijing by not recognising Taipei as an independent state. The US describes its connection with Taiwan as “a robust unofficial relationship”.
But Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taiwan appeared to have compromised Washington’s endorsement of the One-China Policy, which advocates that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the sole representative of the world’s biggest population. China views the visit as a contradiction of the US’s avowed stand that it does not “support Taiwan independence”.
China has issued stark warnings against Pelosi’s visit before and after the top American congresswoman’s landing in Taipei. Prior to Pelosi’s Asia tour, President Joe Biden also needed to talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to pacify Beijing on the Democrat’s visit to the self-ruled island.
Despite Beijing’s fierce opposition, Pelosi went ahead with her visit to Taiwan even as the American media reported hesitantly how her Asia tour might complicate both US-China connections and Washington’s strategically ambiguous policy toward Taipei. Following Pelosi’s visit, China has been conducting large-scale military exercises, effectively encircling the island.
So, why does the US care about Taiwan so much? Let’s look at US-Taiwan ties in a historical context:
US backs Taiwan’s founding
In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan’s founding father, who was also a top nationalist leader in China before the communist revolution forced him and his supporters to flee the island, established Taiwan, claiming that his ‘Republic of China’ represents the whole China.
General Chiang Kai-shek, seated at his desk in his office, reading a copy of his new book China's Destiny, which was translated into English in 1943.General Chiang Kai-shek, seated at his desk in his office, reading a copy of his new book China's Destiny, which was translated into English in 1943. (AP Archive)While the US did not recognise Taiwan’s sovereignty over mainland China, Washington protected Taipei against Beijing through several crises between the two estranged powers.
During the 1950 Korean War, Taiwan became a US ally and American forces fought the Chinese military, which had backed the communist Korean forces. Washington also deployed its Navy in the Taiwan Strait to protect its ally against any possible attack from mainland China.
The US backed Taiwan against China during two Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1954 and 1958, when Beijing attacked some Taipei-controlled islands close to the mainland. In the first Taiwan Strait crisis, Taipei lost some of its islands to China, but in the second crisis, it defended its islands, Kinmen and Matsu, against Beijing’s artillery attacks using US-supplied weapons.
US-China rapprochement complicates ties
Until the early 1970s, US-China ties had gone through different tensions due to the Cold War in which Washington and the communist bloc, which comprised China and the Soviets, competed with each other to claim global supremacy. As a result, between the 1950s and 1970s, the US strongly backed Taiwan against China.
But in 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited Beijing in an unexpected move considered as a breakthrough between the two giants. Nixon met his Chinese counterpart and launched America’s famous campaign ofthe opening of China, which aimed to free Beijing from Soviet influence to weaken Moscow’s hold on communist movements.
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