Taiwan in US Policy
Clare Fan

Taiwan Relations Act
Speaking of Taiwan in U.S. policy, the most important thing will be "Taiwan Relations Act." "Taiwan Relations Act" has been in effect for 33 years. United States established formal diplomatic relations with China. 10. "Taiwan Relations Act" is to regulate the Taiwan-US bilateral "non-diplomatic relations”, and is an important legal basis for the U.S. executive and legislative departments to handle Taiwan affairs. than international treaties. As a United States domestic law, it rank higher It authorizes the U.S. government to continue the In 1979, the In order to reduce the

act’s impact on Taiwan, U.S. signed "Taiwan Relations Act" in the same year on April

communication on economic, social and cultural aspects among the American people and the people of Taiwan. It also affirms that it is the U.S.’ important goal to protect and promote the human rights of the people of Taiwan. In the "Taiwan Relations Act" Section II, subsection 1 states that, the main purposes of the formulation of the Act is “to help maintain peace, security, and stability in the Western Pacific; and to promote the foreign policy of the United States by authorizing the continuation of commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan.” After more than 30 years, most of these goals have been achieved. The law has played a very important role in maintaining the security of the Western Pacific. "Taiwan Relations Act" has 18 articles, which involves several important issues, including security, arms sales, substantive relationship, the positioning of Taiwan, membership in international organizations, AIT, congressional oversight, and human rights. Security While "Taiwan Relations Act" does not tell exactly what specific action the United States should take when Taiwan's security is threatened, but in the forth paragraph of Section II, subsection 4 does have expressly noted, "It is the policy of the United States to

consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States." The act also confirmed, “it is the policy of the United States to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.” (Section II, subsection4, paragraph 3) Once the Taiwan people's security or social and economic systems subjected to threats, threatening U.S. benefit, the president and the congress will adopt appropriate procedures in accordance with the Constitution coping actions. In 1996, Taiwan held the first direct election of the president. China launched short-range ballistic missiles to the offshore of Keelung and Kaohsiung for the excuse of “Taiwan is China’s territory.” All areas fell into the panic of war. Such military actions led U.S. President Bill Clinton to order the Seventh Fleet to enter the Taiwan Strait, as a warning to Jiang Zemin that China should not invade Taiwan by force. After 1996, every time during Taiwan's presidential election, the U.S. military always cruise Taiwan Strait in order to prevent China from intervening elections in Taiwan. Arms Sales While China refuses to give up invading Taiwan by force, Taiwan must have sufficient defensive arms to ensure the security of Taiwan. According to the fifth paragraph of "Taiwan Relations Act" section II, subsection 2, “It is the policy of the United States to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character.” It shows that the U.S. also agrees the fact and promised to provide enough weapons to defend Taiwan. In 1982, President Reagan indicated that the U.S. would set a ceiling of the quantity and quality of arm sales to Taiwan in the announcement "Joint Communiqué on Arms Sales to Taiwan." But the fact is, before the U.S. and China signed the treaty, the U.S. government had proposed "Six Assurances" to Taiwan. There were two particular items should be noted: (1) The United States would not set a date for ending arms sales to the Republic of China (ROC); (2) The United States would not hold prior consultations with the People's Republic

of China regarding arms sales to the ROC. U.S. administrations are able to keep in the spirit and essence "Six Assurances" to Taiwan continued to sell weapons, including F-16 fighters, helicopters, airborne radar planes, anti-aircraft missiles to name a few. On many occasions, the White house and congress also pointed out that "Taiwan Relations Act" prevails over "Joint Communiqué on Arms Sales to Taiwan." Reinforcement of Bilateral Relationship Section II, (b), (1) emphasizes that, "It is the policy of the United States, to preserve and promote extensive, close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan." During the past 30 years, bilateral trade between Taiwan and the United States has grown dramatically. The trade statistics could tell. In 1978, the total value of bilateral trade was only 7.3 billion U.S. dollar. 20 year later in 1997, the value had reached 52.8 billion. Nowadays, Taiwan is the United States’ eleventh largest trading country, the sixteenth largest exporting country, and the seventh largest agriculture-exporting country. The latest statistics show that, with an amount of 62.3 billion dollars in trade volume, Taiwan is a very important ally with the U.S. On October 2, 2012, the United States announced that Taiwan officially joined the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Since then, Taiwan visitors have increased substantially. It is a big step for the substantive relation between Taiwan and the United States. In educational exchanges, Taiwan currently has thirty thousand students studying in U.S. The exchanges of culture, technology and art also show the close relationship between the two countries. The Positioning of Taiwan Although in 1979, the Carter government severed diplomatic relations with the ROC, in section IV, subsection (2) paragraph (1) of TRA specially notes, "Whenever the laws of the United States refer or relate to foreign countries, nations, states, governments, or similar entities, such terms shall include and such laws shall apply with such respect to Taiwan." From the diplomatic point of view, "Taiwan Relations Act" regards Taiwan as

a position of foreign government, allowing Taiwan to have representative within the U.S. and enjoy diplomatic privileges. restrictions. The ROC's Membership in International Organizations When it comes to application of laws and international agreements, section Ⅳ subsection 4 of "Taiwan Relations Act" states that, “The absence of diplomatic relations or recognition shall not affect the application of the laws of the United States with respect to Taiwan.” In the same section, subsection 4 also states that, "Nothing in this Act may be construed as a basis for supporting the exclusion or expulsion of Taiwan from continued membership in any international financial institution or any other international organization." Since Taiwan Relations Act legislated, whenever former U.S. presidents and China government discuss about the Taiwan problem, the U.S. always stated that Taiwan Relations Act would be complied. In fact, the U.S. had never allowed Taiwan to participate any international organizations as a sovereign state. Taiwan joined WTO as the name of “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu” at most. However, recently on June 18, 2013, The U.S. Senate passed legislation in support of Taiwan's bid to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Taiwan government could feel the good intentions of the United States. The American Institute of Taiwan The U.S. government provided administrative and technical support to assist the AIT to operate, and as the window of liaison and coordination with the "North American Affairs Coordination (CCNAA) "(later changed to “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECRO)”) Congressional Oversight "Taiwan Relations Act" rules that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee of both Houses and other appropriate congressional committees, not only to supervise the "Taiwan Relations Act" of the implementation, but also the U.S. continues to maintain relations with Taiwan legal or technical matters. From the overall perspective, the U.S. government treats Taiwan as an independent sovereign State, but there are still many uncertainties and

Human rights The U.S. Congress pay special attention to human rights terms when drafting the Bill, the human rights clause has two deeper meaning: (a) The United States recognized that any restriction or harm caused by Communist China to the people of Taiwan constitutes a violation of human rights in Taiwan. (b) Encourage Taiwan government to offer the citizens comprehensive democratic rights to participate in politics. Taiwan lifted martial law at July 1987, and terminated the restriction on traveling to China at the same year. Subsequently government lifted the ban on newspaper in During the decade 1988, and released the ban on political parties at the following year. country.

of President Lee, Taiwan transformed from a single party to a multiparty and democratic According to the current statistics, there are about 145 political parties in People Taiwan and all public officers of all levels are elected by democratic means. information from many mass media.

have the opportunity to participate in politics, and the ability to get the various sources of Taiwan and the United States have the same democratic values, and the former U.S. President George W. Bush even praised Taiwan as a beacon of democracy in the world.

Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan-US relations
During the eight years of the ruling of Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan-US relations were relatively intensive. On the one hand, the United States did not want conflict to appear in the Taiwan Strait, which could decrease the U.S.’ economic interests in Asia. On the other hand, it was afraid of the unification of Taiwan and China. The DPP often acted too radically, which made the United States feel that Taiwan Strait's security is threatened. Because the DPP and the United States share the same democratic value, winning over the United States for returning to the ruling is also an important policy for Democratic Progressive Party. United States has been keeping the influence on the DPP; it also took advantage of the DPP in order to put pressure on China. But in some way, the DPP must act more calmly and be more obedient to the U.S., so that they could once again maintain good relationship. Now the relationship between the ruling party Kuomintang and the United States is more relieved. In fact, a few days ago (Aug 11,2013), President Ma Ying-Jeou just

visited the United States, and is subject to high-standard treatment. balance between KMT and the United States.

There is a delicate

During the visit, President Ma and Rep.

Eliot Engel talked about arm-sale issues. Rep. Eliot Engel also said that United States has that responsibility to help and protect Taiwan, and the Taiwan Relations Act needs to be strengthened. harmonious trend. The visit fully shows that Taiwan-US relations have a more

Currency Situation and Conclusion
In addition to the resolution of ICAO case, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014" by a vote of 315 to 108 on June 14, 2013. The act includes the support of selling F-16 aircraft to Taiwan (sec1265,) and allowing all high-level officials of Taiwan to enter into the United States (sec1259.) It shows that the U.S. attaches great importance on “Taiwan Relations Act” and “Six Assurances,” it would continue to provide defensive arms for Taiwan. The greatest achievement of Taiwan Relations Act lies in the term of "strategic ambiguity," it allows U.S. presidents to make decisions flexibly and take advantage of the situation. While China understands the situation, it has nothing to do with it. couldn't go any further as well. value of democracy with the U.S. Taiwan But as I mentioned before, Taiwan shares the same Democracy is no doubt the trend of the world. Time

is beneficial to Taiwan; it does not stand on the side of China. If Taiwan continues to carry out democratic values, the possibility for China to unify Taiwan would substantially decrease. The policy of Obama administration toward Taiwan is quite the same as George W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton. They all committed to the harmony of the Taiwan Strait. Pacific. They believe that Taiwan is unlikely to be unified in short term. Related to the historical perspective, Taiwan is the United States’ last line of defense in the Western By virtue of the fact that common interests exist along the history and that similar values are given weight to by both governments (countries), the relationship between ROC and the U.S. will surely go on to prosper splendidly in the several decades to come.

Reference 1. 2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan), http://www.mofa.gov.tw/EnOfficial Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, http://www.taiwanembassy.org/US/mp.asp?mp=12 3. 4. Govtrack.US, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr1960/text The American Institute of Taiwan, http://www.ait.org.tw/zh/taiwan-relations-act.html 5. VOA News, http://www.voanews.com