Download The United States began supporting Taiwan in

Taiwan and the
United States
The United States began
supporting Taiwan in 1950
as part of the Cold War.
Taiwan had broken from
the newly created
Communist Peoples'
Republic of China. That
recognition and ensuing
relations between the U.S.
and Taiwan complicated
relations between the U.S.
and China for 30 years.
Even though the United
States recognized
Communist China in 1979, it remained committed to helping Taiwan defend itself, a fact that still angers China.
Background
Taiwan is an island some 100 miles off the coast of China, bordered on the west by the Straits of Taiwan and on
the east by the Philippine Sea. Its capital is Taipei, and it has a population of about 23 million. A majority of its
people are Buddhists.
Taiwan has been a pawn in both Eastern and Western geopolitical strategy for centuries. Dutch imperialists
claimed it in the 1600s. Spain later also claimed it. In the 18th and 19th Centuries, China claimed Taiwan and
annexed it as a province.
In 1895, China went to war with Japan. Japan was itself embarking on an empire and in effort to emulate the
great European empires, especially that of Great Britain. Japan, with its
industrialized military, won the Sino-Japanese War and took possession of
Taiwan.
Japan attempted to "Japanize" the people of the island. While it mandated that
Taiwanese children learn Japanese, it also tried to modernize the island's
economy.
World War II and the Chinese Civil War
In 1927, civil war broke out between communists
under Mao Zedong -- who was trying to follow
Russia's example in the creation of a communist state -- and nationalist Chinese (of
the Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek. The two sides fought until 1931 when Japan
invaded -- then annexed -- the Chinese province of Manchuria. Forces under Mao and
Chiang began an uneasy alliance as they worked together to fight Japan. This fighting
was known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, but it was really the start of World War
II in the Pacific.
While the United States refused to acknowledge the Japanese annexation of Manchuria, it did little else. Mired
in a spirit of isolationism, the United States did not enter the Pacific war until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in
December 1941.
Then it allied with the rival Chinese factions to fight Japan. President Franklin D. Roosevelt preferred Chiang's
nationalists to Mao's communists (as did most Americans), but the U.S. attempted to work with both.
With the defeat of Japan in 1945, Taiwan reverted to Chinese control. With their common enemy removed, the
communists and nationalists resumed their civil war. In 1949, with a communist victory approaching, 2 million
nationalists fled to Taiwan. In October, Mao declared victory and instated the People's Republic of China
(PRC) on the mainland. Two months later Chiang and the nationalists proclaimed the creation of the Republic
of China (ROC) in Taiwan.
Initially, the United States refused to recognize the communist government in Beijing. They preferred to deal
with the Nationalists and capitalists in Taiwan (who the US government regarded as the rightful rulers of
China).
Straits of Taiwan Crises
In 1954 the People's Liberation Army (PLA) -- Communist China's main army -- began attacking a string of
islands in the Taiwan Straits which Taiwan claimed. The PLA attacked with artillery fire and aerial
bombardment, which at one point killed more than 700 nationalists defending one of the islands.
In response to the attacks, the U.S. Congress in 1954 approved the Formosa Resolution which authorized the
American president (then Dwight D. Eisenhower) to use force to defend the islands. The Congressional measure
was in response to a growing belief in the "domino theory" in the Pacific -- that if one region fell to
communism, so would others. The law allowed President Eisenhower sent the US Navy into the Taiwan Straits
to stand between the Chinese and Taiwanese. The U.S. also began selling jet aircraft and artillery to Taiwan, a
policy that remains in force.
Diplomatic Changes
Cold War anticommunism and American leadership of the West had secured
Taiwan a seat in the United Nations rather than mainland China. However, as
President Richard Nixon moved to normalize relations with China in 1971,
much of the world followed suit. China soon replaced Taiwan at the U.N.,
and the U.S. recognized Beijing (then known as Peking), rather than Taipei as
the center of its Chinese relations. The U.S. also recognized Beijing's "oneChina" policy; essentially, the U.S. agreed that Taiwan was part of China.
Those changes, however, did not mean that the U.S. had shunned Taiwan. Many Americans were upset at what
they felt was the "abandonment" of Taiwan. Members of Congress felt that America had an obligation to protect
Taiwan (or, at least help them protect themselves). They also felt that American
credibility and power would be threatened by a Chinese takeover of Taiwan.
The U.S. Congress clarified and legalized that intent in the Taiwan Relations
Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed in 1979. U.S. sales of arms to
Taiwan have continued under that act, including F-16 fighter jets. These
weapons sales have made the PRC very angry. The issue of Taiwan has
continued to be a major obstacle in the relations between the People’s Republic
of China and the United States.