Taiwan Policy Database
Setting the Scene: Historical Facts and Divergence
The Taiwan issue is central to understanding one of the biggest and enduring flashpoints between Beijing, Taipei, and Washington. It has a long, complex history going back to the dynastic era in China, when China claims Taiwan was at various points a part of the Chinese nation.
It is made more complex by a decades-long civil war among competing governments — the Kuomintang (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — and due to the fact that since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded, there have been two rival governments claiming sovereignty over the whole of China — the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan, and the PRC on mainland China.
The involvement of the United States is arguably one of the largest factors shaping cross-strait relations. When the United States and China opened diplomatic relations in 1979, differences over the sovereignty of Taiwan were managed through a series of agreements among the three capitals. These agreements, known as the Three Joint Communiqués, preserved the United States’ official relations with Taipei, while reassuring Beijing that Washington would not promote or support Taiwan independence.
However, key differences remained in the understandings around the notion that there is only “one China” and what it means to maintain the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait. China believed that the communiqués resolved the irritant of Washington’s “meddling” in what Beijing regarded as its internal affairs. Pledges were made by Washington to curtail its military aid and not support Taiwanese sovereignty through commitments to the PRC One China policy. The United States believed it had struck a tenuous bargain whereby Washington would cease formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, “acknowledge” Beijing’s policy that Taiwan was a part of China while crafting Washington’s own One China policy, and state that the status of Taiwan and China was “unresolved.”
These ambiguous political understandings preserved peace for decades and allowed economic activity to flourish in the Asia-Pacific. However, things are starting to unravel. Acute U.S.-China competition, Taiwan’s democratization and thirst for greater autonomy, and a stronger, more assertive China are laying bare the delicate balance that has existed since 1979.
In particular, all three sides view their commitment to refrain from crossing the other’s "red line" as weakening. Beijing believes Washington has increasingly hollowed out its One China policy and is now openly supporting Taiwan’s permanent separation from the mainland. Taipei views Beijing as becoming increasingly aggressive and impatient with Taiwan’s elected leaders, as evidenced by its insistence on not foreswearing the use of force to resolve the Taiwan question and by larger, more destabilizing military exercises around the island. And Washington views Beijing as increasingly turning to coercion and threats against Taiwan and the United States to force resolution of the Taiwan question on Beijing’s terms.
In essence, understandings about the role each should play to maintain an ambiguous "status quo" across the Taiwan Strait are starting to fray.
As great-power rivalry intensifies, each side views the other as pushing their bottom line and not offering sufficient assurances to stabilize current trends. This raises questions about whether all three capitals remain committed to the understandings that, for years, have helped maintain peace in and around the Taiwan Strait.
It is this context that prompted the Center for China Analysis to create the Taiwan Policy Database (TPD). The TPD serves to educate the global community on the complexity and historical significance of Taiwan by offering a deep repository of original source documents, agreements, laws, and exchanges. The website not only houses the largest database of resources on the Taiwan question from the perspective of Beijing, Washington, and Taipei, it also offers a one-of-a-kind interactive timeline allowing users to filter by event categories across time. It also provides in-depth analyses, called "narratives," to help unpack the complexity of the various issues and policies vis-à-vis Taiwan over time.
Our aim, quite simply, is to educate and inform, offering each party’s perspective on the Taiwan question in the most neutral way possible. We hope this resource will add value to the world’s understanding of Taiwan and why it remains such a challenging and important issue today.
Taiwan Policy Database
Taiwan Policy from World War II to Present from the Perspectives of Taiwan, China, and the United States