Apparently, Obama did not stress the 1979 act that promises U.S. help in Taiwan's self-defense against attack from the mainland as the most important of the four documents always cited as collectively forming the foundation of U.S. China policy. All of his five predecessors "” Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush "” have never failed to mention that Congress-initiated act signed after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
But that does not mean Uncle Sam has given up Taiwan. For one thing, the one-China principle is part of all four documents, including the Shanghai communique of 1972, Carter's December 1978 normalization agreement with Beijing, the aforementioned 1979 act and the August 17, 1982 communique limiting U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
The Shanghai communique, signed while President Chiang Kai-shek was alive and Taipei enjoyed diplomatic relations with Washington, "acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China."
Read Full Article »