The situation in the Taiwan Straits has become more and more tense since the Trump administration with the potential for military conflict increasing in parallel. The American policy of ambiguity as to its relations with and commitments to the regime in Taipei has contributed to that tension.
The U.S., in a series of joint statements with the People’s Republic of China in 1972, 1978 and 1982, reaffirmed the American commitment to a China policy in which Taiwan is an inherent part of the Chinese state. In seating the People’s Republic of China in the Security Council, the United Nation General Assembly expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupied in the United Nations structure”.
In the initial 1972 Shanghai Declaration, in the presence of the President of the U.S., the U.S. acknowledged, “that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position.”
In the 1978 joint communiqué, the Americans assured that, “The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.
The U.S. has justified its behavior on the 1982 joint declaration that the U.S. “will continue cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan” and further assured that:
The United State Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy up arms sales to Taiwan, that it’s our sales to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or quantitative terms, the level of those supplied in recent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and that it intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution. In so stating, the United States acknowledges China’s consistent position regarding the thorough settlement of this issue”.
Given explicit American recognition that Taiwan is an inherent part of the Chinese state, international law is unambiguous in stating that one nation interfering in the internal affairs of another nation is illegal (UN Charter, Art. 2, #4 & 7). Moreover, use of military force against another state is illegal without the concurrence of the Security Council, including its five veto-holding permanent members. Further, the American government made explicit commitments on the limits of armaments sales to the island territory that are now being ignored in very extensive ways. It is clear that the U.S. is vastly overreaching the commitments it has made concerning Taiwan. The alleged ambiguity is but a weak and transparent fig leaf.
Since the Trump administration, American behavior (as well as Chinese) has contributed to the dangerous decline in the relationship between two global powers. The unnecessarily public acrimony based on policy positions disingenuously interpreted for political consumption on the part of this country is provocative and only worsens the environment in which the issue of Taiwan/One-China will be played out. Provocative manifestations for personal gratification or political expediency has generated no less provocative Chinese military activity around Taiwan. This has resulted in a cycle of tit-for-tat.
Reason dictates that the U.S. government, both executive and legislative, takes specific actions to reverse the needless descent in the US-Chinese relationship:
·While there are serious issues with Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea and specific Chinese human rights practices as well as Taiwan, the USG must draw distinctions between these issues and base policies appropriate to each. One size does not fit all.
The U.S. government return to the letter and spirit of the one China policy as expressed in the official communications on which that doctrine was based.
·The U.S. government return to quiet and non-provocative dialogue with Chinese counterparts, with sensible and sensitive commentary through the national U.S. media
·The U.S. government review its provocative military actions including electronic surveillance flights in the vicinity of the Chinese coast.
The Democratic and Republican Party leaders of both houses of the U.S. Congress impose discipline on the travels of members and official delegations to Taiwan and meetings in the U.S. with political and military leaders from Taipei.
If the U.S. does illegally violate international law by militarily engaging in the internal affairs of the Chinese state, a Center of Strategic and International Studies war game simulation showed that in the event of war, it was indeterminate which side would “win,” but most likely is the destruction of Taiwan itself. Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, laid out a path to peace in his book, The Avoidable War, and more recently French President Emmanuel Macron called for Europe to develop a stance independent of the U.S in navigating tensions between Beijing and Taiwan. When our friends speak out, it’s time to reconsider policy.
We should also remember that in the past when the U.S. has ignored international law and norms, such as in Vietnam, Bill Clinton’s illegal bombing of Serbia and George W. Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq, things didn’t go well, resulting in many lost lives and treasure for no good end and American credibility and integrity tarnished around the world.
By Mike Daly
Guest Columnist
