By : Nour AL-Houda Firas Hasoun
Translated from Arabic by : Teeba Haitham Abdulhousain
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In this research, we will discuss the history of Taiwan, which is separate from the People’s Republic of China, and the nature of international relations with it in general and the United States in particular... After that, we will pose several questions and answer them briefly.
Taiwan is an island located in southern China with a population of 24 million people. It was formerly called (Fomosa);it is a name given to it by the Portuguese and means the beautiful island, but they did not colonize it, but left it to the Netherlands، but China liberated it in 1621 and expelled the Dutch from it until the Japanese came and occupied it in 1859 and returned to it again after Japan’s loss in the aftermath of World War II in 1949.but before that, China, led by the Qing government, signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, China ceded sovereignty over Taiwan to Japan until 1911 with the establishment of the Republic of China. at that time, it consisted of two major parties, the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and the Communist Party, the period in which the civil war broke out between Taiwan and China is divided into two stages: the year ((1927)) and the year ((1927-1937)).
The first was a civil war between the Communists led by Mao Zedong and the Kuomintang Party led by Chiang Kai-shek. The second stage was when the war between them stopped due to the Japanese invasion of China, which led to their union to resist and fight the Japanese invasion, then the Japanese war on China ended in 1945. Then, between 1945-1950 a war broke out the result of which was the victory of the communists led by Mao Zedong and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (Beijing). The Republic of China then transformed from a national capitalist state into a communist state, and the loss of the Kuomintang Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek. Which led to his loss of power, and his withdrawal from China to the island of Taiwan, where he declared the Republic of China (National) under his leadership, considering [Taipei] the sole legitimate representative of the Republic of China Beijing.
At that time, Taiwan was an original member of the United Nations and One of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Taiwan maintained this recognition and position until 1971.
The position of the international community and the United Nations on Taiwan.
In 1971, the United Nations, at the request of the People’s Republic of China, issued Resolution No. 2758, which excluded Taiwan from the United Nations and granted its seat to represent China to Beijing, not Taipei. It was no longer a permanent member of the Security Council and remained in the UnitedNations as an observer, not a original member as before. This measure led to the collapse of taiwan’s economic, political and diplomatic system and even the nature of its relationship with other countries.After this procedure, Taiwan lost the recognition of major countries such as France, Germany and Britain... To date, only 17-18 countries have recognized Taiwan, and they are only small countries and islands that are almost negligible.
The United States’ position on Taiwan
In 1950, the United States abandoned Chiang (the founder of Taiwan),but it backed down from this position when the Korean War broke out in 1950.The US President then Harry Truman helped Taiwan and sent the Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Strait to prevent the communist armies represented by the People Republic of China from invading the island from the mainland due to the division between the United States and the Soviet Union led to increased military protection in 1954 ,however, it sought to prevent the spread of rumors about starting a war with the Chinese mainland because at that time it wanted to improve relations with Beijing to help it (America) in its war with Vietnam.It is worth noting that in 1954 the United States concluded a mutual defense treaty with the People’s Republic of China.In the same year, Taiwan was observed to have developed to a great extent and gained autonomy in all social and all the economic and institutional matters as well as in 1966 the first export processing zone was established in one of the Taiwanese cities in southern Taiwan and it turned into an advanced country and launched compulsory education from the age of 9 years,although at that time 9 countries in the world had this education at this time and issued a law permitting same-sex marriage .
Then Kissinger the National Security Advisor to the US President at the time, by visiting the then President of Beijing, Sean Alley in 1979 the United States at that time was recognizing the Republic of Taiwan as representative of China to the United Nations, and the Chinese President put forward demands and in return American commitments, including (demands) to promote and uphold the principle of one China that it (Beijing) is the sole legitimate representative of the People’s Republic of China Taiwan is a province of China and an integral part of China.
Note that the One China principle means that everything that was part of the Qing Dynasty is considered Part of China such as Hong Kong and Macau Island. China also demands full recognition of China by the United States without any reservations, and the United States agreed to some of them despite opposition from the political scene in America.
These demands aroused fear and tension in the United States as well as the US Congress,who were opposed to the idea of canceling the recognition of Taiwan, so they thought of a neutral way that would satisfy both parties and serve the US policy, which is to withdraw US forces from Taiwan
The [ Taiwan Relations Act] (act of the relationships with taiwan) of 1979 was the most important law that carefully defined the obligations between the United States and Taiwan which does not go to the alliance with Taiwan, the old friend of the United States,but rather treats Taiwan as if it is a recognized state and continues to support its defense capabilities,( but as if it meant and said that the United States will defend Taiwan if China invades it without provocation from Taiwan and vice versa) and the most important decision was to withdraw the United States’ recognition of Taiwan and give it to the Republic of China as the sole representative of China and not Taipei however the United States did not recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan and it kept the relations with Taiwan, whether consular or friendly, but not diplomatic, despite sending weapons.
And warships to the latter, but this is from a legal standpoint does not constitute legal recognition of the state.
The measures greatly angered China, which considered them to be inconsistent with the 1979-1982 deal with Beijing and were an attempt by the United States to appease the parties but undermined the confidence of both parties in the United States and were seen at the time as a form of diplomatic stalling.
∆ What is the current situation between these countries?
Why does the United States cling to Taiwan?
How would a Chinese invasion of Taiwan affect the United States and its interests? What does Taiwan have to survive?
With the United States provoking China by its own recognition , and the increasing tensions and contradictions between the statements of these countries, and the continued maneuvers between China and Taiwan, and the training and arming of armies in preparation for any war or threat of it, and the increasing training and bombing of sites close to Taiwan, but China says that it is only responding to US provocation. And when the Russian-Ukrainian war occurred and tensions escalated and Sweden and Finland joined NATO due to the Russian threat and their proximity to NATO military forces, and the continued violation of the One China principle by the United States from the china’s prespective, Taiwanese fears of China increased for fear of doing the same to it the armament, maneuvers and military parades increased, especially after the United States provoked China with statements by the former and current US presidents about their readiness to defend Taiwan if China invaded Taiwan, as well as Taiwan’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of China in Taiwan in 2011.
In 2001, US President Bush changed the policy based on Taiwan by saying before the last statement that he would defend Taiwan against any threat to it, which led China in 2004 to issue a law that allows the People’s Republic of China to use violent means if Taiwan tried to secede and provoke China, but this law did not stand in the way of Taiwan because it was armed with the capabilities of the United States. It is worth noting that after World War II, Chiang Kai-shek met with US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister at the time Churchill at the Cairo Conference, which included returning Taiwan and some other islands to the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China. What made matters more tense were the US statements regarding Taiwan that on the one hand it recognises China but continues to export tools, weapons and defence systems to Taiwan.
As for the answer to the last question, which is: How will the invasion of Taiwan affect the rest of the countries, especially the United States, and what does Taiwan have to ensure its survival?
We say: The current American policy is based on achieving two goals:
Deterring China from invading Taiwan
Transferring electronic microchips beyond Taiwan or to the United States.
But what is the story of microchips? And Taiwan factories?
Taiwan has the largest, most powerful and most important microchip factories in the world, as 92% of the American economy from this industry depends on Taiwan for its manufacture, and more than 90% of the world’s chips come from Taiwan, which the United States is seeking in a very frightening way to ensure the manufacture and monopoly of this industry to the point that it issued the Microchip Act and reduced fees and approved tax exemptions to encourage American companies to invest in this industry and increase their ability to manufacture it.
However, the United States faces two problems: the United States’ actions are insufficient and there is not enough time to do so.
At any moment with the current international situation and the increasing quarrels between these countries, China may invade Taiwan at any time. Although the Taiwanese company (.....) is the original and sole founder of these industries, which the American economy depends on heavily, constituting more than 10% of its economy. The Dutch company (.....) owns the manufacturing facilities and application chips in its industry, it is considered the most advanced in the world in electronic chips. The United States has obliged the Netherlands not to give it to China, believing that it will affect the US economy and increase the rate of invasion of Taiwan so that China can control this industry. But even if the latter is able to do that, it will not be able to because they are unable to operate these machines and factories that are operated by Taiwan. Even the United States cannot do that.....
But the question is, does China want this company and industry to boost its economy, which is second only to the United States?
The answer is that China is not interested in this industry and it is not the reason for Taiwan’s invasion. China is not interested in electronic chips because before these chips, the Taiwan issue is considered a permanent and inherited issue and the first issue for the People’s Republic of China and it wants to recover it peacefully or by force, Macau and Hong Kong would not have responded peacefully to join China, but Taiwan is stubborn and will not respond, especially with Lai Ching-te, a member of the Taiwan Democratic Party, assuming the presidency, which supports independence and self-rule for Taiwan.
As for the impact of the invasion of Taiwan by China, it is in addition to the financial and global losses in the world and the participation of major countries to repel this invasion and what they will pay to rebuild the devastation that will continue for decades, then the global economy will collapse twice as much as the situation of the Covid 19 pandemic Taiwan’s economy will collapse by more than 40% and 16.7% of the GDP per capita will evaporate, leading to a major economic depression. The most important loss is the Taiwan Strait, through which almost all countries in the world ship their goods. When it is closed due to war, the global economy will decline by more than 10% and the American economy by more than 6%, and it will not recover except after decades of identifying and narrowing the losses.
In the end, we say that up until this moment, China considers Taiwan a rebel against it and that it violates legal legitimacy and proper place is China, but in return Taiwan says that it is the sole entity of what is called China. It is worth noting that the Taiwanese citizen enters China without a visa because China considers Taiwan a province and part of China, meaning it is not an independent country to be with a visa, but the opposite is not true, as Taiwan prevents the entry of the Chinese citizen except with a visa on the basis that Taiwan is the only China and that Beijing is a foreign country.
Sources:
- Ashraf Ibrahim, The American Relations with Taiwan and China .
- Britannica Online Database
- Documentary Film: The Relationships Between Taiwan and China