The Status Quo is Dead: Taiwan, America and China’s Strategic Unambiguity
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By Clint Mallory
November 09, 2021
Chinese actions surrounding Taiwan over the past few weeks have made it abundantly clear just how much our policy of “strategic ambiguity” and “maintaining the status quo” has failed. While these policies might have still been viewed as successful a decade or more ago, Chinese modernization, Taiwan’s prior failure to take its defense seriously, and years of the U.S.’s deference to Beijing on Taiwan matters have resulted in an anachronistic approach that has outlived its usefulness – and in fact, have helped create the exact scenario they were designed to avoid.
President Jimmy Carter could almost be excused for recognizing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the expense of Taiwan back in 1979. The U.S. was still locked in a political and military standoff with the Soviet Union. Diplomatic recognition of China was seen as the logical outcome of Nixon and Kissinger’s decision to leverage the Sino-Soviet split and open a dialogue with Beijing. De-recognizing Taiwan was largely seen as a strategically acceptable and manageable consequence of this decision when viewed in the light of the Soviet threat and Beijing’s role at the time in helping us counter it.
Congress responded to Carter’s abrupt abandonment of Taiwan by passing the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which ensured continued informal relations with Taiwan, including commitments to provide Taiwan with “arms of a defensive character,” but did not formally commit the U.S. to defend the island. However, one often overlooked passage in the TRA states that it was passed with the understanding that the “decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means,” and that “any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means…is a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.”
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/11/09/the_status_quo_is_dead_taiwan_america_and_chinas_strategic_unambiguity_802783.html
