Taiwan Relations Act

The Taiwan Relations Act is an act of the United States Congress passed in 1979 after the establishment of relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the breaking of relations between the United States and the Republic of China (ROC) on the island of Taiwan by President Jimmy Carter. It more clearly defines the American position on Taiwan and its cross-strait relationship with Beijing.

Provisions

The act authorizes -diplomatic relations with the ROC government by giving special powers to the American Institute in Taiwan to the level that it is the de facto embassy, and states that any international obligations previously made between the ROC and U.S. before 1979 are still valid unless otherwise terminated. One agreement that was unilaterally terminated by President Carter upon the establishment of relations was the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty; that termination was the subject of the Supreme Court case Goldwater v. Carter.

The act provides for Taiwan to be treated under U.S. laws the same as "foreign countries, nations, states, governments, or similar entities". The act provides that for most practical purposes of the U.S. government, the absence of diplomatic relations and recognition will have no effect. [ [http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive_Index/Taiwan_Relations_Act.html Taiwan Relations Act: Public Law 96-8 96th Congress] Sec. 4 under APPLICATION OF LAWS; INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS]

The act defines the term "Taiwan" includes, as the context may require, the islands of Taiwan (the main Island) and the Pescadores. The act does not apply to Kinmen or Matsu.

The act stipulates that the United States will "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" but does not mandate that the United States intervene in these situations.

This act also requires the United States "to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character", and "to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan." Successive U.S. administrations have sold arms to the ROC in compliance with the Taiwan Relations Act despite demands from the PRC that the U.S. following legally non-binding Three Joint Communiques and the U.S. government's proclaimed One-China policy (which differs from the PRC's One-China Policy). The Taiwan Relations Act does not require the U.S. to intervene militarily if the PRC attacks or invades Taiwan, and the U.S. has adopted a policy of "strategic ambiguity" in which the U.S. neither confirms nor denies that it would intervene in such a scenario.

Reactions to TRA

The PRC does not recognize the legitimacy of the Taiwan Relations Act as it is viewed by them as "an unwarranted intrusion by the United States into the internal affairs of China." [ [http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t143465.htm Embassy of China] ] The Three Joint Communiques were signed in 1972, 1979, and 1982. The United States declared that "the United States would not formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan" as part of the Six Assurances offered to Taipei in 1982. In the late 1990s, the United States Congress passed a non-binding resolution stating that relations between Taiwan and the United States will be honored through the TRA first. This resolution, which puts greater weight on the TRA's value over that of the three communiques, was signed by President Bill Clinton as well.Fact|date=March 2007

ee also

*Political status of Taiwan
*Legal status of Taiwan
*Foreign relations of the Republic of China

References

External links

* [http://www.ait.org.tw/en/about_ait/tra/ Text of the Taiwan Relations Act]