Following the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at age 100, TaiwanPlus looks back at his 1979 decision to sever official ties with Taiwan and sign into law the Taiwan Relations Act. That law has defined the two countries' unofficial partnership in the more than four decades since.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The end of an era, and of a nearly four-decade post-war order in Asia.
00:06On December 15, 1978, then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that his country would
00:12break diplomatic ties with Taiwan, switching recognition to the People's Republic of China.
00:19The move was a long time coming.
00:24Taiwan had been expelled from the United Nations several years earlier, in 1971, with few recognizing
00:29its claim to be the legitimate government of all of China.
00:36And under Carter's predecessor, Richard Nixon, the U.S. began normalizing relations with
00:41Beijing.
00:42Still, the mood in Taipei was grim.
00:47People angry with what they saw as a betrayal by the U.S. held increasingly violent anti-American
00:52protests.
00:54The government, under the lead of President Chiang Ching-kuo, tried to quell public outrage
00:58and chart a new course forward.
01:01Former diplomat Frederick Chin, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister at the time, was one of the
01:05top officials in charge of overseeing the American transition out of Taiwan.
01:10His task was to negotiate certain assurances.
01:13Most importantly, security.
01:18Second, arms sale.
01:20Third, the property we have in the United States.
01:27And then we have air links and shipping.
01:35Will that be possible to continue, or that PRC might take over?
01:43But Taiwan still had strong support from many on Capitol Hill.
01:48A group of Congress members, upset with Carter's switch to the PRC, worked to craft a piece
01:54of legislation that would come to define the U.S.-Taiwan relationship in the decades since.
01:59While behind the scenes, people on the ground in Taiwan were also hard at work making sure
02:04that the law would be strong enough to last.
02:07One of them was Robert Parker, who had just become chair of the American Chamber of Commerce
02:11in Taiwan.
02:13Parker traveled from Taipei to Washington, D.C. to campaign for protecting not just U.S.
02:18business interests in Taiwan, but also the robust trade and investment ties the two countries
02:23had developed.
02:25The challenge was to fill that void.
02:28To describe in practical terms what we as Americans, both in the business community
02:34in Taiwan and in a broader sense between our two countries, needed on a practical basis
02:41to continue cordial, successful, normal relations in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
02:50Parker and others' testimony proved persuasive, and the bill that was signed into law on April
02:5510, 1979 was much more powerful than President Carter or Beijing had anticipated.
03:02The Taiwan Relations Act calls for Taiwan to be treated the same as any other foreign
03:06country under U.S. laws, allows the U.S. to provide weapons for Taiwan's defense, directs
03:12the President to inform Congress of any threats to Taiwan's security, and establishes the
03:18American Institute in Taiwan, a non-profit corporation that serves as Washington's de
03:23facto embassy in Taipei.
03:25In the years since the TRA was passed, U.S.-Taiwan relations have significantly deepened, yet
03:32the threat from China, which claims Taiwan as its own, has continued to grow.
03:38It's caused some to rethink the act's limitations and to call for a clearer stance from the
03:43U.S.
03:44We argue that the U.S. should maybe adopt a strategy called dual clarity, that is to
03:50specify under what conditions that the U.S. will do the intervention and the military
03:58help to Taiwan.
03:59For example, if China use force, then the U.S. will help Taiwan.
04:03And the U.S. should be very clear that if Taiwan changes status quo, then the U.S. will
04:07not help Taiwan.
04:12Despite growing concerns over Taiwan's security, the TRA has endured as the strong foundation
04:17of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, one which has allowed ties to flourish for more than
04:22four decades.
04:24Chris Ma and Jeremy Olivier for Taiwan Plus.