The relationship between the United States and China is one of the most important issues in the twenty-first century, and is, ultimately, hostage to conditions across the Taiwan Strait. This book is the first to attempt to trace the historical origin of what is known as the ‘Taiwan issue’ in US-China relations from a constructivist perspective, based on detailed archival research. The analysis used supplements the mainstream rationalist approach by developing a new theoretical perspective on US Taiwan policy that incorporates constructivism’s emphasis on identity, norms and discourse analysis. Scholars have never previously developed or elaborated upon this approach to any significant extent. The book re-examines the protection of Taiwan by military means following the outbreak of the Korean War, and the establishment of the ‘one China’ policy in relation to the process of rapprochement during President Nixon’s first term in office. It also considers the contemporary challenges posed to the ‘one China’ policy by the increased importance of promoting human rights and democracy in US foreign policy, arguing that the current US China policy is guided by a new strategy based on ‘engagement plus hedging’.

For a country of its size, Taiwan has a tremendous influence on world affairs and U.S. policy. The U.S.-Taiwan-China Relationship in International Law and Policy describes the central issues animating the dynamic U.S.-Taiwan-China relationship and the salient international and domestic legal issues shaping U.S. policy in the Asia Pacific region. In this book, Lung-chu Chen gives particular attention to Taiwan's status under international law, and the role of the U.S. Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in the formulation and execution of U.S. policy toward Taiwan. This book endorses the central purpose of the Taiwan Relations Act--achieving a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan question--while offering policy alternatives that will empower Taiwan to participate more actively in the international arena. This book follows in the tradition of the New Haven School of international law. As such, it defines the common interests of the world community, which include demands for human dignity and security and the protection of human rights in accordance with bedrock norms such as the right to self-determination and the peaceful resolution of conflict. Chen proposes that in accordance with international law, historical trends, and contemporary political conditions, the people of Taiwan should ultimately determine a path to normalized statehood through a plebiscite under the supervision of the international community.

The Taiwan issue has always been a core national interest of mainland China, which has steadfastly vowed to fulfill national reunification. This book provides a comprehensive and updated explanation of the strategic motivations, behavioral logic, and policymaking rationale of Beijing’s Taiwan policy. It will aid readers in predicting the future development of cross-Strait relations, reducing the risk of strategic miscalculations, and defusing potential geostrategic perils. The book analyzes Beijing’s changing policy toward Taiwan during the Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party administrations. It explains the key driving forces for Beijing’s Taiwan policy in these different periods, which have displayed fundamental shifts from confrontation to cooperation and then back to confrontation. The book also delves into how the rising strategic rivalry between China and the US may influence Beijing’s Taiwan policy and the prospect of cross-Strait relations in the near future. The book will be a useful reference to deepen intellectual understanding of Beijing’s broader security and diplomatic policies. It will also appeal to government policymakers who have a keen and vested interest in peace and security in the West Pacific.

Despite the significance of the Taiwan issue to US-China relations as well as regional stability in the Asia-Pacific, one could hardly find a comprehensive and thorough study of China's Taiwan policy. This book aims to make up for the deficit by providing a systematic and in-depth analysis of the evolution of China's Taiwan policy over the past six decades, against the backdrop of a three-player game involving Beijing, Washington and Taipei. The intention is to show that despite Beijing's uncompromising adherence to the One-China principle, China's leaders have maintained remarkable flexibility in interpreting and implementing it. Moreover, while domestic factors (e.g., nationalistic sentiment, political stability, and economic development) do affect Beijing's calculus, China's Taiwan policy invariably accords with the ups and downs in its international environment, especially the complexities of the US-China relations.

This book examines changes in Taiwan’s policies toward Mainland China under former Republic of China (ROC) President Ma Ying-jeou (2008-16) and considers their implications for US policy toward the Taiwan Strait. In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s increasingly assertive foreign policy behaviors have heightened tensions with its regional neighbors as well as the United States. However, under the Kuomintang (KMT) administration of Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan discounted Beijing’s coercion and pursued rapprochement on the basis of the “1992 consensus,” which was a tacit agreement reached between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party in 1992 that both Taiwan and the mainland belong to one China though that “China” is subjected to either side's different interpretations. The author of this volume analyzes why Taipei underreacted towards the security challenges posed by the PRC and chartered policies that sometimes went against the interests of Washington and its allies in the Asia-Pacific. The KMT was pushing for nation-building initiatives to rejuvenate the ROC’s “one China” ruling legitimacy and to supplant pro-independence forces within Taiwan. The island’s deeply fragmented domestic politics and partisanship have led policy elites to choose suboptimal strategy and, thereby, weakening its security position. The implications from this study are equally applicable to Taiwan’s newly elected Democratic Progressive Party government that has taken off ice in 2016.

The One-China Policy: State, Sovereignty, and Taiwan's International Legal Status examines the issue from the perspective of international law, also suggesting a peaceful solution. The book presents two related parts, with the first detailing the concept of the State, the theory of sovereignty, and their relations with international law. The second part of the work analyzes the political status of the Republic of China in Taiwan and the legal status of the island of Taiwan in international law. Written by a leading international expert in international law, this book provides approaches and answers to the question of Taiwan and the One-China policy. - Responds to a key international issue of our time - Takes a legal perspective on Taiwan and the One-China policy - Considers the definition of a nation State from first principles, also offering new definitions - Applies international law on territory to draw conclusions on Taiwan and its relation to the People's Republic of China - Systematically critiques the role of the UN and other global actors in relation to Taiwan

As relations between the United States and China move into a period of intense activity and sensitivity, this timely book addresses the impact of domestic factors in both countries on their post-Cold War/post-Tiananmen relations. The contributors examine the issue from a number of distinct perspectives: the increased impact of domestic factors in both countries due to changing strategic circumstances; the politics of China policy in the United States, with emphasis on the role of interest groups vis-a-vis Congress, the media, and other domestic institutions; the importance of domestic factors in U.S.-China economic conflicts; the combined impact of domestic factors in both China and the United States on the most important conflict of interest in U.S.-China relations -- the Taiwan issue.

This book examines US subnational engagement in foreign relations, or paradiplomacy, with China and Taiwan from 1949 to 2020. As an alternative diplomatic history of the United States’ relations with divided China, it offers an in-depth chronological and thematic discussion of state and local communities’ responses to the China-Taiwan sovereignty conflict and their impact on US diplomacy. The book explains why paradiplomacy matters not only in the ‘low politics’ of economic and cultural cooperation, but also in the ‘high politics’ of diplomatic recognition. Presenting case studies of US states and cities developing policies towards divided China that paralleled, clashed or aligned with those pursued by federal agencies, it also identifies Chinese and Taiwanese objectives and strategies deployed when competing for US subnational ties. Conceptually, the book builds upon Constructivism, redefining paradiplomacy as an institutional fact, reflective of subnational identities and interests, rather than as a subnational pursuit of foreign markets, driven by objective economic forces. Featuring new empirical evidence and a novel conceptual framework for paradiplomacy, The United States’ Subnational Relations with Divided China will be a useful resource for students and scholars of US foreign policy, the politics of China and Taiwan, paradiplomacy and international relations.

"As Robert Art makes clear in a groundbreaking conclusion, those results have been mixed at best. Art dissects the uneven performance of coercive diplomacy and explains why it has sometimes worked and why it has more often failed."--BOOK JACKET.