Taiwan is under pressure from Xi’s China, but Trump’s America is pushing right back.
The National Interest
Date: July 4, 2018
By: Scott B. MacDonald
As Asia’s international relations digest the significance of the Trump-Kim Singapore Summit, Taiwan has returned as a point of contention between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States. As a result, relations between Beijing and Taipei are frosty and will likely get worse before they get better.
For its part, the PRC regards Taiwan, also referred to as the Republic of China (ROC), as a breakaway province which will eventually be reunited with the mainland. The current government in Taiwan has its roots in the end of the Chinese civil war (1945-1949) when the Nationalists (Kuomintang or KMT) retreated there after being defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although Taiwan remained in opposition to the PRC, it adhered to the idea of eventual reunification with the mainland, in that there was “one China.” The one China framework allowed Beijing and Taipei to live with the idea that they could co-exist until the day was reached when both parties would find reunification mutually attractive. At the same time, the message from the PRC has been consistent – military force would meet any attempt by Taiwan to become an independent country.
What helped maintain Taiwan’s functional independence vis-à-vis China was the support provided by the United States. Although the U.S. opted to diplomatically recognize Beijing as the de jure Chinese state over Taiwan in 1979, it maintained a strong relationship with the ROC, including the sale of weapons and occasional naval support. At the same time, Taiwan’s political system gradually changed from a dictatorship into a representative democracy, which was marked by the island’s first legislative elections in 1992. The first direct presidential elections were held in 1996, and in the 2000 presidential contest, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalists to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). From that point forward, Taiwan held regular elections with peaceful transfers of power in 2008 and 2016. [FULL STORY]
