5 Things About China-Taiwan Relations

A telephone call between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen treads on a longstanding—if recently dormant—political fault line in East Asia. For many decades, the region was a flashpoint between China and Taiwan, one that threatened to embroil the U.S. Here are 5 things to know about it.

#1: The Past Is Present

China claims Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to absorb it ever since Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government fled to the island after being ousted from the mainland by Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949. Tensions often spiked in the following decades; China shelled offshore islands held by Taiwan in the 1950s. Now Beijing wants Taiwan to agree, in the very least, that both sides belong to “One China.”

#2: The U.S. Role

A World War II ally of Chiang Kai-shek when he was president of China, the U.S. continued to back his government for decades after its retreat to Taiwan, and stationed American forces on the island. Washington switched diplomatic relations to Beijing in 1979 and agreed to the Chinese condition that it sunder ties with Taiwan. Though U.S. forces were removed from the island, an American law requires Washington to help Taiwan maintain an adequate defense.

#3: Local Politics

Taiwan has developed into a vibrant democracy over the past quarter century. That complicates the authoritarian government in Beijing’s efforts to negotiate political accommodations with Taipei. Polls on the island routinely show most Taiwanese prefer the status quo, in which Taiwan is effectively, if not formally, independent from China. Voters who brought Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to power also worry about the island’s economic dependence on China.

#4: The Economic Factor

An island of 23 million people, Taiwan still punches above its weight economically, especially as a key link in the global technology supply chain. It has been eclipsed, though, by China’s fast rise. Its once robust exports have fallen, displaced in part by Chinese competitors. President Tsai Ing-wen has promised to promote new sources of growth and shift trade and investment away from China and toward South Asia and Southeast Asia.

#5: A Red Line

For China, the U.S.’s involvement with Taiwan as a partner and protector remains the most sensitive issue between Washington and Beijing. Reunification with Taiwan is a defining goal for the Communist Party. A more assertive Taiwan would be a political setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has cast himself as a strong figure to lead the nation as he pushes for a second five-year term as party head.