Maria Serpas
PSCI 356
Dr. Kramer
March 19, 2015
Subject: What should US policy towards military assistance to Taiwan be?
Historical Background: Taiwan, otherwise known as the Republic of China (ROC), has a complicated political status on the world stage. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) lays territorial claims to Taiwan and most countries recognize China as the mainland as Taiwan as an autonomous region within it. However, Taiwan sees itself independent as the true government of China, but only a couple dozen countries recognize it as sovereign government and by technical definition of what constitutes as a sovereign state under the Montevideo Convention of 1933, Taiwan fits the criteria.1 Though before 1971, both countries laid
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Both economic and security threats are culminated in a general consensus that weapons trade between both countries includes only defensive weapons.5 In 1994, the policy towards Taiwan was reviewed, however no changes were made to the arms sales policy.6 The military assistance the US provides Taiwan with, despite being defensive in nature, is still a source of consternation to the PRC and is a problem for its relations with both Taiwan and the US.
Significance:
Military assistance to Taiwan is essential for Taiwan’s sense of security, but it is also a source of friction with US relations with the PRC. Selling Taiwan an amount of weapons that the PRC considers excessive may lead to increased tensions between both the US and the PRC. Under the TRA, the US still has a degree of obligation in ensuring Taiwanese security. It deems that if US assistance is necessary to maintain peace in the Western Pacific and if Taiwan is forced to make a decision regarding its statehood under non-peaceful means the US will intervene in Taiwan’s affairs. Currently, this is limited to selling defensive weapons, but not providing further military assistance or performing joint drills like those performed in South Korea.
Positive trilateral relations are essential for US economic interests. By maintaining positive
* “Almost as soon as the Americans intervened in Korea and the Seventh Fleet entered the Taiwan Strait at the end of June 1950, the CCP’s long-standing suspicion of and hostility toward the United States turned into bellicosity” (Sheng 5).
In the late 19th century, the wave of imperialism touched the shores of Taiwan. The island became a colony of Japan and remained under Japanese rule for 50 years, during which time it evolved from a traditional society into a modern society. At the end of World War II in 1945, Taiwan was liberated from colonial rule. Since then, the island has experienced an economic miracle and introduced political democracy achievements that have attracted the world's attention.
in the region. America’s presence in Guam and the Philippines and its support of China posed
Before World War II had taken place, Japan and China had started to fight against each other, thus leaving the United States in the middle of the two countries at war. Craving to have relations with China, the United States aided the Chinese against Japan. Japan was not too pleased of the United States backing of China. “The United States was the main supplier of the oil, steel, iron, and other commodities needed by the Japanese military as it became bogged down by Chinese resistance but, in January 1940, Japan abrogated the existing treaty of commerce with the United States.”
The United States (US) is constantly looking for ways to improve relations with other countries and to follow their National Security Strategy (NSS). To aid the US in analyzing different countries, the PMESII-PT is used as a formula to keep everyone on the same page. The PMESII-PT contains eight different variables which help the United States analyze how different countries can affect their National Security Strategy. These variables include: political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical terrain, and time. These variables can be used to help better understand the situation and most important aspects of any country. Japan is a major country that can have a large impact on US relations and build on the current NSS. Throughout this paper, the PMESII-PT variables are examined to help educate and show how Japan can affect the United States’ NSS. After reading this paper, one can gain knowledge on how Japan can have a large influence on US interests in the Pacific/ Asian Command (PACOM) region.
The United States’ status as the dominant power in Asia may become contested as China modernizes its military. America’s main source of power in the region comes from its air and naval forces, and if it cannot capitalize on freedom of movement, it will lose its strategic advantage. This paper postulates that if China continues to develop its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) forces that directly counter the United States naval and air forces, there may be future threats to American primacy in Asia. China’s response to the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis and its understanding of necessary strategic deterrence against external United States aggression has pushed it to improve its military capabilities. This essay is divided into four sections, with
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was over, making the U.S. the only superpower left in the world. This has made the international system much more tranquil, and relaxed. The only country potentially powerful besides the U.S., is China. Many Americans fear China, not only because they are communist, but also because of their huge population. Their population is 1.3 billion people, which accounts 1/5th of the world’s population. As one of the only potential superpowers in the world, it would be in the best interest of all Americans if the U.S. and China became allies, instead of enemies. Peace and development, economic prosperity and social progress, are goals that both of
n the years 1937 and 1941 the U.S. relationships with China and Japan were influenced by the conflicts between the two Countries. These conflicts contributed to the United States going to war with Germany and Japan. In China the U.S. officials saw developments that they did not agree with. One of these developments were the Japanese invasion into northeast China and Japanese military rising. The U.S. opposed both of these developments because they valued their friendship with China and because of this friendship the U.S. helped China. The U.S. did not help a lot because they were afraid of provoking Japan. On July 7, 1937 China went to war with Japan and the U.S. began providing more aid to China. This happened because of an incident on the
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The rapid rise in economy of China has turned this country into rival of America. However, in an effort to change the trade policies of China, stop military operations reinforce Beijing 's South China Sea from America, but that’s not enough improve diplomatic relations with 11 countries in the TPP agreement. Beijing said the United States is a force only in Asia as they want, while China will forever be a force in Asia. As candid statement of the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong during his visit to Washington last August, the TPP will "challenge the prestige" of the United States with partners in the region. According to Mr. Li, each nation has faced some opposition political and sensitive issue in the country, pay a political price to get to the negotiating table and signed agreements but finally they cannot receive what they want. Now, United State diplomats do not have what they want in Asia, After the US told the regional partners was signed TPP will strengthen America 's leadership position in the region, the regional partner also concluded to be a waiver of TPP would undermine America 's leadership position and China is ready to be leadership position which vacated this area. In terms of the overall situation of power in Asia, the US withdrew from the TPP, that means United State is bringing the beneficial strategy for China, not only because a trade agreement supported by the United States, U.S foreign policies will be disappear forever
Beijing’s One China version, stating that Taiwan is part of the PRC, has never been accepted by foreign states. While foreign governments recognize the PRC as the legal government of China, they almost uniformly disagree with the PRC’s territorial claim over Taiwan. That is why, in their respective the US and the UK simply “acknowledge,” Canada “takes note of,” and Japan “understands and respects” the PRC’s position that Taiwan is part of China.11 These carefully chosen terms, used instead of the word, “recognize,” as well as negotiations history, directly refute the RPC’s claim of an “international consensus” that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. These foreign countries’ positions also imply that the ROC’s loss of recognition does not extinguish its statehood (Hsieh, P., 2009).
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