The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979

The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979

Last week we touched on some of the reasons why Richard

Nixon opened the door to China in 1971. To summarize, back

then Nixon and Mao agreed to have a strategic dialogue with the

Soviet threat as the focus. China also received our assurances

that there would be one China while the U.S. continued its ties

with a separate Taiwan. Finally, there was a tacit agreement to

pay minimal attention to ideological differences.

But full normalization of relations didn”t take place until the

presidency of Jimmy Carter. Outside of the U.S., the majority of

nations in the world had begun to recognize China as the

legitimate leader of all Chinese. The massive trade potential of 1

billion people held everyone in thrall. Throughout the decade of

the ”70s it was also felt that without Beijing”s cooperation the

wars in Indochina might engulf all of Southeast Asia. Taiwan,

itself, didn”t help their own cause any as the island was ruled first

by dictator Chiang Kai-shek and later his equally bad son.

Political reform on the island really didn”t take hold until the ”80s

and democracy finally was the rule in just the past 5-7 years.

So when Carter became president, he set about to normalize

relations with the mainland and what ensued was a civil war

between his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, and his national

security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski (from here on, Zbig).

Zbig looked at the close relationship that Henry Kissinger had

with President”s Nixon and Ford, first as national security advisor

and later as secretary of state, and decided that he wanted to be

the chief strategist for foreign policy. Vance wasn”t about to

have any of that.

And a side figure in the debate to follow was Richard Holbrooke,

currently U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and key player in the

Balkans. In an article in the September / October issue of

“Foreign Affairs” magazine, Patrick Tyler describes the call that

Carter placed to Holbrooke as Carter was shaping his foreign

policy team before he took office.

Carter asked Holbrooke for his opinion of various cabinet

positions, men such as Vance for State and Harold Brown for

Defense. When Holbrooke didn”t recommend Carter favorite

Zbig, Carter asked why. Holbrooke replied that he didn”t think

Vance and Zbig would get along. Petty Jimmy never initiated

another conversation with Holbrooke who became assistant

secretary of state for Asia under Vance. Carter named Zbig

chairman of the NSC.

While Carter had normalization of relations with China on his

docket when he took over, his #1 priority was arms control with

the Soviet Union. China took a back seat.

And China was getting impatient. After all, it had been years since

Nixon”s ”72 visit and the world was quickly recognizing the

government in Beijing. In 1977, right after Carter”s inauguration,

China”s communist party elected Deng Xiao-Ping as its new

leader. Secretary of State Vance was dispatched to Beijing right

when Deng took over.

Carter had not wanted to sell out Taiwan. The U.S. had a Mutual

Defense Treaty with the island and we had troops stationed on

the island. While it was assumed that the troops would be

withdrawn, Carter wanted a liason office in Taiwan as a pretext to

normalizing relations with Beijing. Deng said, “No.” He felt it

would promote the image of two Chinas, of one China and one

Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Zbig pulled his big power play. Zbig, as national

security advisor, always had Carter”s ear since it was Zbig who

was the first to brief the president each morning for about an hour

on the world scene. Zbig finagled his way to Beijing, infuriating

Vance. At a meeting with Deng, Zbig laid down the new

administration proposal. The U.S. would close down their official

representation on Taiwan, terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty,

withdraw the remaining military personnel and make a statement

indicating the importance of a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan

question by the Chinese themselves. Then the two sides would

issue a joint communique establishing diplomatic relations in

which the U.S. would recognize the PRC (mainland China) as the

sole legal government of China.

But the sticky issue of arms sales to Taiwan was a stumbling

block. Deng wanted no further arms sales after allowing for arms

already in the pipeline as a one-year moratorium on sales expired.

He had been prepared to offer Taiwan near total autonomy,

granting them their own political and economic system – even

their own military – but under the banner of One China, with

national sovereignty residing in Beijing. As author Tyler says, in

essence “One country, two systems.”

While all this was going on, Cyrus Vance was negotiating arms

control with the Soviets. But Carter wanted an agreement with

China before talks with Moscow were finalized, a Nixon trick

employed to light a fire under the Soviets.

[As an aside, Tyler”s article is amusing in its description of

the battle between Holbrooke and Zbig. Zbig was able to shut

Holbrooke out of many sensitive meetings as word had it that

Holbrooke was a “leaker.” The assistant secretary was also

dating CBS reporter Diane Sawyer at the time].

While China thought the U.S. had agreed to no further arms sales

to Taiwan after the one-year moratorium was up, Carter and Zbig

thought they would be allowed limited sales of defensive weapons

to the island. When you read the full account of this diplomatic

dance, it really is scary how such crucial policy decisions are often

made with a total lack of understanding as to the other side”s true

position. Simply put, Zbig blew it.

Carter was all set to announce the historic agreement with China

when at the last minute Deng got word of the U.S. understanding

on weapons sales and requested an emergency meeting with our

U.S. representative to China, Leonard Woodcock. Carter had to

be able to reassure Congress that limited defensive arms sales

would continue. Deng disagreed. He argued that Taiwan

wouldn”t have the incentive to go to the negotiating table and

eventually China would have to use force to recover Taiwan. But

in the end, Deng suddenly gave in and allowed the defensive

weapons sales. [It is amazing to read that Deng made all of his

final decisions while meeting with Carter”s emissaries, never once

consulting with anyone else from the Chinese government, in case

you ever had any doubt as to how powerful Deng was].

Carter went before the people to tell us about the deal.

Immediately, Republican figures like Ronald Reagan and Barry

Goldwater slammed it as a sell-out of Taiwan. However, former

President Ford supported it. An angry Congress transformed the

“Act” to the Taiwan Relations Act, which included a security

commitment to Taiwan nearly as strong as the one in the now-

canceled Mutual Defense Treaty. But relations with China were

now normalized.

For over 20 years, despite China”s often bellicose statements, the

Taiwan Relations Act has guided our policy. It is purposefully

nebulous. It doesn”t clearly state that the U.S. would immediately

come to Taiwan”s aid if the island came under attack. It is, of

course, implied that we would. Which is why China is watching

us carefully to see how the Clinton administration handles the

current situation. So far, Clinton and his spokespeople continue

the ambiguity. We say there would be “grave consequences” if

China attacked Taiwan, but we don”t say what those

consequences would be. We should tell the mainland that an

attack on Taiwan is an attack on the U.S.

Brian Trumbore