It’s June of 2023 and a warship of the People’s Republic of China’s navy has harassed a US Navy destroyer in the Taiwan Strait, and the video of that encounter (taken from a Canadian warship that was also present) is getting wide attention. From what I have seen online, there is some confusion for many about how this all works.
What is Taiwan and why does the US protect them?
Taiwan is an island in the far western Pacific Ocean that the United States recognizes as part of China. The people of Taiwan also see themselves as part of China.
What’s the trouble and why are we involved?
I recently had an exchange with someone in the Youtube comments after a video of the encounter was played on an international news outlet’s channel. The commenter seemed to be from mainland China, based on the assumptions they made and the viewpoint expressed.
The commenter did not understand how the USA was defending Taiwan while also accepting that they are part of China.
That is a fair question. I made an explanation, without any apparent success of it being accepted, but that didn’t really surprise me, as the person I was communicating with believed that this gives the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) the right to rule over the people of Taiwan without their consent.
I thought it was time for a refresher or sorts.
Taiwan is an island that is politically part of China. The political body of the island is officially known as the Republic of China. (ROC).
We only need go back to 1945 and the end of World War II, when Japan was defeated and the island ceded to the ROC. As the war ended, a civil war resumed on the mainland between the ROC and communist forces under Mao Zedong. By 1949 the communists were defeating the ROC forces, who removed themselves to Taiwan. Mainland China became the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
PRC = Communist China
ROC = Taiwan
In time the United States accepted the legitimacy of the PRC, and developed a One-China policy. We also support the right of the people of Taiwan to mind their affairs and determine their government democratically. The apparent contradiction is understandably confusing.
The One China Policy is an acceptance that there are not two separate Chinas, but one with two forms of government until such a time that the people of both entities willingly agree to share, free from the threat or coercion, a single government. If the people of Taiwan vote to become communist, we’ll accept that choice. I doubt they will.
As a matter of public law (The Taiwan Relations Act), the USA supports the governing authority of Taiwan (not officially called the ROC by the USA), and their right to self determination.
China = One country but unification must be mutually accepted for the US to withdraw our influence.
The USA holds that Taiwan has a democratically elected government and the right to maintain that. Since PRC threatens to subjugate them through force, the United States will assist in their defense. (The wording of this can be interpreted to mean either just supplying arms or defending by force.)
In the view of the United States, the people of any country have the right to self-determination. They should have and form a government of their own choosing. In the case of the people of the mainland of China, they never had this opportunity to choose their own government by any democratic means. It was forced upon them through military victory.
But this does not mean that the people of Taiwan need to abandon their own right to self-determination. Taiwan was never forced to accept communism, and as people they remain free to democratically choose their government. This is supported and protected by the USA and other nations. If we can’t force the PRC to adopt a different form of government, we certainly can’t support forcing Taiwan to do the same.
The People’s Republic of China could abandon its one-party communist authoritarian state and open the country to free and fair elections with a republican or parliamentarian government. Should this happen, and the government becomes one chosen by the People of China, it would become more desirable for Taiwan to reunite. The reunification of Germany is a fine example of this being done. East Germany abandoned communism and that country is no longer divided. There is hope that this can happen with North and South Korea as well.
For all practical purposes Taiwan can continue operating separately forever without causing any problems for the PRC, except the ego of leadership on the mainland, and the threat that any democracy is to communism. People prefer to choose their own representative government, so totalitarian states don’t want nearby examples to inspire their subjects.
If one is looking for hypocrisy, one need only look at the relationship between China and the Koreas, as compared to the US view. Here China supports an unelected totalitarian state that continues in its efforts to gain control over the whole of the peninsula, while complaining that the US won’t mind its own business when it comes to Taiwan.
And should someone fail to grasp the geopolitical significance of Taiwan as an ally (of sorts), look at a map of the area and see how should Taiwan be swallowed up by the CCP, this could interrupt the free navigation of the seas both in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and would negatively affect the rights of other free and independent countries in the region, such as Vietnam and The Philippines.
Taiwan is a well-armed island of 24 or so million people. China attacking them would be like a bear attacking a wolverine. Yeah, it can ultimately win, but will pay an expensive price in blood and treasure. The dynamic of this changes with the US pledging support. China doesn’t want at fight it can’t win. Let’s hope they don’t start believing they can.