THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA RIVALRY AND ITS IMPACTS ON WASHINGTON AND BEIJING RELATIONS WITH HISTORICAL COMPLEXITY OF TAIWAN
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper aims to analyze the United States and China rivalry which impacts their relationship with Historical Complexity of Taiwan using the Balance of Threat Theory and qualitative research method. Both the United States and China have different perspectives on the Taiwan issue. China considers that historically Taiwan is part of China. However, the disintegration that Taiwan faces makes some Taiwanese people not feel part of China. This incident was later used by the United States in intervening and expanding its influence in the East Asia region since the 1950s. As a result, the Taiwan area has become a battleground for the United States and China as they compete for regional influence. The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in 1979, provides Washington a legal framework to continue selling weapons to Taiwan. On the other hand, Beijing took the initiative to open a free market with Taipei under the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) in 2013. This paper suggests that both Beijing and Washington have always refrained from escalating into an open conflict that ended in war. Thus, a future war is unlikely.
Article Details
Keywords
the United States’ TRA, China’s CSSTA, Taiwan, historical complexity, East Asia
References
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AP., AFP., & Reuters. (2011, October 10). Hu Jintao urges unification with Taiwan. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/10/10/2003515354
Bin, Sh. (2015). China’s trade development strategy and trade policy reforms: Fulfilling commitments to access to WTO and continued liberalization (2002-2005). International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Bock, A. M., & Henneberg, I. (2013). Why balancing fails: Theoretical reflections on Stephan M. Walt’s “Balance of Threat” theory. Universität zu Köln.
Bush, R. C. (2003). The United States and Taiwan. Brooking Institution Press.
Cabestan, J.-P. (2016). Relations across the Taiwan strait: Still a major political and security problem. In The International Institute for Strategic Studies. (Eds.), Asia-Pacific regional security assessment 2016: Key developments and trends (pp. 129-144).
Chang, J.-L. J. (2000). Lessons from the Taiwan relation act. Orbis, 44(1), 63-77.
Chen, D. P. (2017). US-China rivalry and Taiwan’s mainland policy: Security, nationalism and the 1992 consensus. Palgrave Macmillan.
Chen, H., & Whalley, J. (2014). China’s service trade. Journal of Economic Surveys, 28(4), 746-774. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12081
Choukroune, L. (2012). China and the WTO dispute settlement system. China Perspectives, (1), 49-57. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.5815
Chow, P. (2017). Outlook for U.S.-Taiwan economic partnership under President Trump’s “America first” trade policy. In S. Rigger, D. V. Hickey & P. Chow (Eds.), U.S.-Taiwan relations: Prospects for security and economic ties (pp. 21-31). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Glaser, B. S. (2016). Prospects for cross-strait relations as Tsai Ing-wen assumes the presidency in Taiwan. Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).
Hickey, D. (2014, August 25). US, China must agree to disagree. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2014/08/25/2003598195
Hilpert, H. G., Sakaki, A., & Wacker, G. (2022). Dealing with Taiwan. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, German Institute for International and Security Affairs. https://doi.org/10.18449/2022RP09
Hu, W. (2000). From Nixon to Clinton: The changes of the U.S. One-China policy. Taiwan Commercial Publisher.
J. R. (2013, June 26). Chinese dissidents in Taiwan: At home abroad. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/banyan/2013/06/26/at-home-abroad
Kan, S. A. (2014). China/Taiwan: Evolution of the “One China” policy - Key statements from Washington, Beijing, and Taipei. Congressional Research Service. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/RL30341.pdf
Kuik, Ch.-Ch. (2008). The essence of hedging: Malaysia and Singapore’s response to a rising China. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 30(2), 159-185.
Kuntić, D. (2015). The ominous triangle: China-Taiwan-the United States relationship. Croatian International Relations Review, 21(72), 239-280.
Lin, Ch.-N. (2020, November 14). Taiwan not part of China, Pompeo says. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/11/14/2003746883
Lin, H.-T. (2013). U.S.-Taiwan military diplomacy revisited: Chiang Kai-shek, Baituan, and the 1954 mutual defense pact. Diplomatic History, 37(5), 971-994. https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dht047
Lowther, W. (2011, September 23). Taiwan to receive US arms package. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/09/23/2003513960
Lu, Y.-Ch. (2014). Taiwan’s viable diplomacy in times of uncertainty. Prospect Journal, 11, 39-65.
Mann, J. (1999). About face. Alfred A. Knopf.
McClaran, J. P. (2000). U.S arms sales to Taiwan: Implications for the future of the Sino-U.S. relationship. Asian Survey, 40(4), 622-640.
Mo, Y.-Ch. (2013, June 22). Cross-strait service trade pact signed. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/06/22/2003565371
Perlez, J. (2018, October 5). Pence’s China speech seen as portent of ‘new cold war.’ The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/world/asia/pence-china-speech-cold-war.html?smid=url-share
Romberg, A. D. (2014). Cross-strait relations: Portrayals of consistency: Calm on the surface, paddling like hell underneath. China Leadership Monitor, (45).
Shepherd, J. R. (2016). Taiwan prefecture in the eighteenth century. In W. Peterson (Ed.), The Cambridge history of China (pp. 77-110). Cambridge University Press.
Suettinger, R. L. (2003). Beyond Tiananmen. Brooking Institution Press.
Swanson, A. (2022, February 8). China fell far short of promises it made to purchase American goods. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/business/china-us-trade.html?smid=url-share
Tucker, N. B. (2009). Strait talk: United States-Taiwan relations and the crisis with China. Harvard University Press.
Walt, S. M. (1987). The origins of alliances. Cornell University Press.
Wang, C. (2013, October 7). Political division must be resolved: Xi Jinping. Taipei Times. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/10/07/2003573898
Wang, G. T. (2006). China and the Taiwan issue: Impending war at Taiwan strait. University Press of America.
Wang, Y.-K. (2013, May). Managing hegemony in East Asia: China’s rise in historical perspective (EAI Fellows Program Working Paper Series No. 38). The East Asia Institute. https://www.eai.or.kr/data/bbs/eng_report/201305161115181.pdf
Williams, P. (2014, May 19). US charges China with cyber-spying on American firms. NBC News. https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/19/us-files-first-ever-cyber-economic-espionage-charges-against-china-govt-officials.html
Wills, J. E. (1999). The seventeenth-century transformation: Taiwan under the Dutch and the Cheng regime. In M. A. Rubinstein (Ed.), Taiwan: A new history (pp. 84-105). M. E. Sharpe.
Wong, J., & Zheng, Y. (Eds.). (2001). The Nanxun legacy and China’s development in the Post-Deng era. Singapore University Press, World Scientific.
Wu, S. S. G. (2013). The perspectives of cross-straits relations: An analytical framework and its implications. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/files/Samuel_S._G._Wu.pdf
Xiao, Y. K. (2001). Bai Nian Zhi Jie: A historic perspective of the relationship between China and the United States in Taiwan area. People’s Press.
Xinhua. (2014, March 23). Taiwan leader defends cross-straits service trade pact. China Daily. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-03/23/content_17371676.htm
Yang, A. N.-D. (2014). Understanding Taiwan’s role in the US pivot to Asia. Prospect Journal, (11), 1-9.
Zhao, J. (2011, September 22). China condemns US arms sales to Taiwan. China Daily. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202212/08/WS6391b186a31057c47eba36ac.html