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II. Origin of the Taiwan
Question

Taiwan was returned to China de jure and de facto at theend of the Second World War. It became an issue only as an aftermath ofthe ensuing anti-popular civil war started by Kuomintang, and more especiallybecause of intervention by foreign forces.

Taiwan question and civil war launched by Kuomintang. Duringthe war of resistance against Japanese aggression the Chinese CommunistParty and other patriotic groups pressed Kuomintang into a national unitedfront with the Communist Party to fight Japanese imperialist aggression.After victory of the war the two Parties should have joined hands to workfor the resurgence of China. But the Kuomintang clique headed by ChiangKaishek flouted the people's fervent aspirations for peace and for buildingan independent, democratic and prosperous new China. Relying on U.S. support,this clique tore up the 10 October 1945 agreement between the two Partiesand launched an all-out anti-popular civil war. The Chinese people werecompelled to respond with a people's liberation war which was to last morethan three years under the leadership of the Communist Party. Since theKuomintang clique had already been spurned by the people of all nationalitiesfor its reign of terror, the government of the "Republic ofChina" in Nanjing was finally overthrown by the Chinese people. ThePeople's Republic of China was proclaimed on 1 October 1949 and the Governmentof the new People's Republic became the sole legal government of China.A group of military and political officials of the Kuomintang clique tookrefuge in Taiwan and, with the support of the then U.S. administration,created the division between the two sides of the Straits.

Taiwan question and responsibility of the United States. Againstthe backdrop of East-West confrontation in the wake of the Second WorldWar and guided by its conceived global strategy and national interest considerations,the U.S. government gave full support to the Kuomintang, providing it withmoney, weapons and advisors to carry on the civil war and block the advanceof the Chinese people's revolution. However, the U.S. government neverachieved its objective. The White Paper on United States Relations withChina released by the Department of State in 1949 and Secretary of StateDean Acheson's letter of transmittal to President Harry S. Truman had toadmit this. Dean Acheson lamented in his letter: "The unfortunatebut inescapable fact is that the ominous result of the civil war in Chinawas beyond the control of the government of the United States. ... Nothingthat was left undone by this country has contributed to it. It was theproduct of internal Chinese forces, forces which this country tried toinfluence but could not."

At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China the thenU.S. administration could have pulled itself from the quagmire of China'scivil war. But it failed to do so. Instead, it adopted a policy of isolationand containment of New China. When the Korean War broke out, itstarted armed intervention in the inter-Taiwan Straits relations whichwere entirely China's internal affairs. On 27 June 1950 President Trumanannounced: "I have ordered the Seventh Fleet to prevent any attackon Formosa." Thus the Seventh Fleet invaded the Taiwan Straits andthe U.S. 13th Air Force set up base in Taiwan. In December 1954 the U.S.concluded with the Taiwan authorities a so-called mutual defense treatyplacing China's Taiwan Province under U.S. "protection". Theerroneous policy of the U.S. government of continued interference in China'sinternal affairs led to prolonged and intense confrontation in the TaiwanStraits area and henceforth the Taiwan question became a major disputebetween China and the United States.

In order to ease tension in the Taiwan Straits area and seek ways ofsolving the dispute between the two countries, the Chinese Government starteddialogues with the United States from the mid-1950s onwards. The two countriesheld 136 sessions of talks at ambassadorial level from August 1955 to February1970. However, no progress had been made in that period on the key issueof easing and removing tension in the Taiwan Straits area. It was not untillate 1960s and early 1970s when the international situation had undergonechanges and as New China had gained in strength that the U.S. began toreadjust its China policy and the relations between the two countries starteda thawing. In October 1971 the United Nations General Assembly adoptedat its 26th session Resolution 2758 which restored all the lawful rightsof the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and expelled the"representatives" of the Taiwan authorities from theU.N. U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China in February 1972 in thecourse of which the two countries issued a joint communiqu'e?? in Shanghaistating that: "The U.S. side declared: the United States acknowledgesthat all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there isbut one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Governmentdoes not challenge that position."

In December 1978 the U.S. Government accepted the three principles proposedby the Chinese Government for the establishment of diplomatic relationsbetween the two countries, namely, the United States should sever "diplomaticrelations" and abrogate the "mutual defense treaty" withthe Taiwan authorities and withdraw U.S. military forces from Taiwan. On1 January 1979 China and the United States formally established diplomaticrelations. The Communiqu'e on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relationssaid that: "The United States of America recognizes the Governmentof the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China.Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural,commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan ...... The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chineseposition that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China."Normalization of Sino-U.S. relations was thus achieved.

Regrettably, however, scarcely three months after the event, a so-calledTaiwan Relations Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into lawby the President. A domestic legislation of the U.S. as it was, this Actcontained many clauses that contravened the communiqu'e? on theestablishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. and theprinciples of international law, and seriously prejudiced the rights andinterests of the Chinese people. Invoking this legislation, the U.S. Governmenthas continued its arms sales to Taiwan, interference in China's internalaffairs and obstruction to Taiwan's reunification with the mainland.

In order to resolve the issue of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the Chineseand the U.S. governments negotiated and reached an agreement on 17 August1982. A communique? bearing the same date became the third joint communique?governing Sino-U.S. relations. In that communique? the U.S. Governmentstated that: "It does not seek to carry out a long-term policy ofarms sales to Taiwan, that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed, eitherin qualitative or in quantitative terms, the level of those supplied inrecent years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between theUnited States and China and that it intends gradually to reduce its saleof arms to Taiwan, leading, over a period of time, to a final resolution."Yet in the past dozen or more years the U.S. Government has not only failedto implement the communiqu'e? in earnest, but has repeatedly contravenedit. In September 1992 the U.S. Government even decided to sell 150 F-16high-performance fighter aircraft to Taiwan. This action of the U.S. Governmenthas added a new stumbling block in the way of the development of Sino-U.S.relations and settlement of the Taiwan question.

It is clear from the foregoing that the U.S. Government is responsiblefor holding up the settlement of the Taiwan question. Since the 1970s manyAmericans of vision and goodwill in or outside the administrationhave contributed much by way of helping to resolve the differences betweenChina and the U.S. on the Taiwan question. The aforesaid three joint communiqu'e?stestify to their effort and contribution of which the Chinese Governmentand people are highly appreciative. On the other hand, one cannot failto note that there are people in the U.S. who still do not want to seea reunified China. They have cooked up various pretexts and exerted influenceto obstruct the settlement of the Taiwan question.

The Chinese Government is convinced that the American and the Chinesepeoples are friendly to each other and that the normal development of therelations between the two countries accords with the long-term interestsand common aspiration of both peoples. Both countries should cherish thethree hard-won joint communiqu'e?s guiding the development of bilateralrelations. As long as both sides abide by the principles enshrined in thosecommunique?s, respect each other and set store by their overall commoninterests, it will not be difficult to settle the Taiwan question thathas been left over from history and Sino-U.S. relations will surely seesteady improvement and development ahead.