Taiwan Relations Act

A 1979 congressional act that ensured the continued protection of Taiwan after the United States had normalized relations with Communist China.

On December 15 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States planned to normalize relations with the People's Republic of China. Beginning in January 1979, the United States would grant the Communist Chinese republic full diplomatic recognition. Negotiations between the two nations [Page 706]had secretly occurred since the administration of President Richard Nixon. During these deliberations, the Chinese government had made three consistent demands: that the United States would end its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, that it would withdraw from the 1954 Mutual Defense Treaty it had signed with Taiwan, and that all U.S. military forces would depart from Taiwan.

Carter realized that a bipartisan group of congressmen, known as the China Lobby, would vehemently protest the Chinese demands. These congressmen strongly supported Taiwanese independence and argued that an independent Taiwan was vital to U.S. security interests in Asia. However, Carter viewed China as an emerging world power; in his view, a steady relationship with China was far more important than guaranteeing Taiwan's freedom from Chinese control. Therefore, when Carter made his announcement, he acceded to the Chinese demands, but to appease his congressional opponents, he stipulated that the Taiwanese question must be settled peacefully and that the United States would retain the right to supply Taiwan with weapons for defensive purposes. He also created the American Institute in Taiwan, a nonprofit corporation that would be used to conduct informal relations with Taiwan.

The U.S. Congress, however, was not satisfied with either Carter's ambiguous assurance that the Chinese would not invade Taiwan or with the nation's new informal arrangement with Taiwan. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate began drafting bills that would ensure America's continued protection of Taiwan. The outcome of these bills was the Taiwan Relations Act.

On March 19, 1979, a congressional conference committee met to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate bills. The committee ultimately emerged with a compromise that contained several key provisions. First, the bill demanded that the future of Taiwan be resolved peacefully and urged the president to seek a Chinese renunciation of force. Second, the bill noted that any threat against Taiwan would be considered a matter of security for the United States. Next, the bill confirmed that the United States could supply Taiwan with the weaponry necessary for its self-defense. Finally, the bill stipulated that the president and Congress would jointly determine what weapons would be sold to Taiwan.

Not surprisingly, China vociferously protested the bill, even threatening to withdraw from its newly normalized relation with the United States. But the congressional leadership correctly guessed that the Chinese government was bluffing; the Chinese wanted the new diplomatic relationship as badly as the Carter administration did. The true threat came from Carter's veto pen. Carter received the bill on March 30. He expressed his displeasure with the bill by waiting until April 10 to sign it, the last day before the bill would have automatically become law. He also declined to hold a public signing ceremony, instead signing the bill late at night.

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