The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) was signed into law by then-US president Jimmy Carter on this day 45 years ago, coming into force retroactively on Jan. 1, 1979.
For Taiwan, the law was something of a mixed blessing, as it was necessitated by the severing of formal diplomatic ties between the US and Taiwan in 1979 under Carter, in a process that had started under former US president Richard Nixon and his national security adviser at the time, Henry Kissinger, with the signing of the Shanghai Communique in 1972.
The switch from US diplomatic recognition of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was a realpolitik move based on aligning strategic interests against the Soviet Union. The US was not leaving behind Taiwan, but hedging its bets by throwing in its lot with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rather than the dictatorial ROC regime of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
This did not help ordinary Taiwanese, who were shocked by the breaking of ties, and with Carter’s subsequent termination of the 1954 US-ROC Mutual Defense Treaty in 1979.
Nixon, Kissinger and Carter were perceived in Taiwan as abandoning the nation in favor of communist China. The US Congress had similar reservations. It was in this context that the TRA was born.
The US and China have very different interpretations about the primacy of the TRA over the three communiques signed between 1972 and 1982 by the US and China. For Beijing, the communiques are to be regarded as international treaties and render the contents of the TRA, a domestic US law, in contravention of international law, and invalid. Much of this disagreement has to do with nuances of wording in the text of the communiques, and with the CCP’s intention to distort the meaning for its own benefit. The US is very clear that the TRA has primacy over the three communiques in its dealings with Taiwan.
Of note is the terminology regarding Taiwan’s identity. For the TRA, the ROC ceased to be recognized as of Jan. 1, 1979. After that point, it refers to the “governing authorities on Taiwan,” leaving considerable flexibility at the time and for the future.
It also states that the US’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC “rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.”
Furthermore, it reaffirms the “preservation and enhancement of the human rights of all the people on Taiwan” as US objectives. For today’s democratic Taiwan, this could be seen as a reference to the threat from the PRC. At the time, the situation was more complex, as the “governing authorities on Taiwan,” or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, still maintained martial law up until 1987.
There has been much water under the bridge since then, with US-Taiwan relations, and indeed relations between those two countries and the PRC, shifting significantly as international realities have evolved.
The initial rapprochement between Washington and Beijing has been tested by developments such as China’s massive increase in military spending and the CCP’s increased aggressiveness in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Through it all, the TRA has served as the framework for US relations with Taiwan and for its dealings with the CCP regarding Taiwan’s status through a constantly evolving international situation.
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
After the coup in Burma in 2021, the country’s decades-long armed conflict escalated into a full-scale war. On one side was the Burmese army; large, well-equipped, and funded by China, supported with weapons, including airplanes and helicopters from China and Russia. On the other side were the pro-democracy forces, composed of countless small ethnic resistance armies. The military junta cut off electricity, phone and cell service, and the Internet in most of the country, leaving resistance forces isolated from the outside world and making it difficult for the various armies to coordinate with one another. Despite being severely outnumbered and
After the confrontation between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday last week, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, discussed this shocking event in an interview. Describing it as a disaster “not only for Ukraine, but also for the US,” Bolton added: “If I were in Taiwan, I would be very worried right now.” Indeed, Taiwanese have been observing — and discussing — this jarring clash as a foreboding signal. Pro-China commentators largely view it as further evidence that the US is an unreliable ally and that Taiwan would be better off integrating more deeply into
RSS