Taiwan, U.S., and China Relations
A myriad of elemental factors have affected, and continue to affect, Sino-American relations. One factor, which has played a role in developing the complex relationship between the United States and China, is Taiwan. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the United States’ ever-changing stance on the “One-China” framework, against mainland China’s solid vision of its “One-China” principle. The observation of United States’ flailing stance on the issue of Taiwan, is notable when analyzing United States’ former leaders’ responses to the Taiwan-China dilemma. Starting with Truman, followed by: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. On the other hand, China’s …show more content…
To enforce this, the United States intervened through its Marshall Mission. The goal of the operation: to unite the KMT and CCP under one government, ruled by KMT. Long story short, the plan failed, the civil war between the two persisted, and the CCP eventually got the upper hand. The Marshall Mission was understood to be a huge loss for the United States, because it had essentially lost China to communism, what America would consider, “the ‘fall’ of mainland China to communism.” (Milestones:1945-1952) Following the success of the Chinese Communist Party, Chiang-Kai Shek’s Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan (a Chinese province) where it would continue to develop its democratic ideology. Back in Beijing, which was now the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the sentiment shared throughout was that, Taiwan was a Chinese estate whose principal government was that of the PRC. Nevertheless, Taiwan also saw itself as part of China, but it considered its democratic government to be the true central government of …show more content…
The first Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1954, involved the bombing of the offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which looked to seize control of Taiwan. President Eisenhower, signed a mutual defense treaty with Chiang Kai-Shek’s government in hopes that it would mitigate conflict by discouraging China from further aggravating Taiwan. Still, Mao was unrelenting, which forced the United States to prepare for a potentially nuclear war. Fortunately, Mao agreed to “resolve the problem through negotiations; Sino-American ambassadorial talks ensued shortly afterward.” (Sheng, 479) This offered Taiwan respite from the feud. The Taiwan Strait crisis resurged in 1958 when Mao decided to take advantage of U.S.’ distraction in Lebanon to bombard the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, again. The U.S. retaliated by re-supplying garrisons in Quemoy and Matsu. “This brought an abrupt end to the bombardment and eased the crisis. Eventually, the PRC and ROC came to an arrangement in which they shelled each other’s garrisons on alternate days. This continued for twenty years until the PRC and the United States normalized relations.” (Milestones:
A myriad of elemental factors have affected, and continue to affect, Sino-American relations. One factor, which has played a role in developing the complex relationship between the United States and China, is Taiwan. The purpose of this essay is to contrast the United States’ ever-changing stance on the “One-China” framework, against mainland China’s solid vision of its “One-China” principle. The observation of United States’ flailing stance on the issue of Taiwan, is notable when analyzing United States’ former leaders’ responses to the Taiwan-China dilemma. Starting with Truman, followed by: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. On the other hand, China’s …show more content…
To enforce this, the United States intervened through its Marshall Mission. The goal of the operation: to unite the KMT and CCP under one government, ruled by KMT. Long story short, the plan failed, the civil war between the two persisted, and the CCP eventually got the upper hand. The Marshall Mission was understood to be a huge loss for the United States, because it had essentially lost China to communism, what America would consider, “the ‘fall’ of mainland China to communism.” (Milestones:1945-1952) Following the success of the Chinese Communist Party, Chiang-Kai Shek’s Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan (a Chinese province) where it would continue to develop its democratic ideology. Back in Beijing, which was now the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the sentiment shared throughout was that, Taiwan was a Chinese estate whose principal government was that of the PRC. Nevertheless, Taiwan also saw itself as part of China, but it considered its democratic government to be the true central government of …show more content…
The first Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1954, involved the bombing of the offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which looked to seize control of Taiwan. President Eisenhower, signed a mutual defense treaty with Chiang Kai-Shek’s government in hopes that it would mitigate conflict by discouraging China from further aggravating Taiwan. Still, Mao was unrelenting, which forced the United States to prepare for a potentially nuclear war. Fortunately, Mao agreed to “resolve the problem through negotiations; Sino-American ambassadorial talks ensued shortly afterward.” (Sheng, 479) This offered Taiwan respite from the feud. The Taiwan Strait crisis resurged in 1958 when Mao decided to take advantage of U.S.’ distraction in Lebanon to bombard the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, again. The U.S. retaliated by re-supplying garrisons in Quemoy and Matsu. “This brought an abrupt end to the bombardment and eased the crisis. Eventually, the PRC and ROC came to an arrangement in which they shelled each other’s garrisons on alternate days. This continued for twenty years until the PRC and the United States normalized relations.” (Milestones: