China-Taiwan Issue

In Context 

• Recently, a  statement by the United States President suggested that any attempt by China to invade Taiwan would attract American military intervention.

How did the current round of tensions come about?

• The current round of tensions between China and Taiwan began on October 1 2021 when China observed its National Day to mark the birth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
  • Coinciding with the 72nd anniversary celebrations, China flew over 100 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, jangling nerves in Taiwan and setting off alarm around the world that it was preparing to take over the island by force. 
• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Beijing’s steadfast support of Russia in the face of global criticism has heightened these fears.

• US-China angle 
  • In 2020, amid worsening US-China relations over Covid and trade, the State Department sent its highest ranking delegation till then to Taipei. 
    • During the visit, the Chinese conducted a military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from mainland China.

Where does Taiwan stand in relation to China and the world?

• Taiwan, earlier known as Formosa, a tiny island off the east coast of China.
• It is where Chinese republicans of the Kuomintang government retreated after the 1949 victory of the communists — and it has since continued as the Republic of China(ROC). 
• Location 
  • The island is located in the East China Sea, to the northeast of Hong Kong, north of the Philippines and south of South Korea, and southwest of Japan. 
    • Thus ,What happens in and around Taiwan is of deep concern to all of East Asia.

• Recognition :  Taiwan sees itself as a de jure sovereign state but it is largely unrecognised by other countries
  • Just 15 countries around the world recognise Taiwan. Most are very small, many are remote island nations.
• National Day
  • Taiwan observes October 10 — “double 10” — as its national day; it was on this day in 1911 that sections of the Manchu army rose in rebellion, leading ultimately to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the end of 4,000 years of the monarchy. 

When did the tensions with China begin to acquire a serious dimension?

• The RoC was declared on December 29, 1911 and it became the non-communist frontier against China during the Cold War.
• Since its founding in 1949, the PRC has believed that Taiwan must be reunified with the mainland, while the RoC has held out as an “independent” country.
• In 1954-55, and in 1958, the PRC bombed the Jinmen, Mazu, and Dachen islands under Taiwan’s control, drawing in the US. 
• In 1955, Premier Zhou En-lai declared at the Bandung Conference that he wanted negotiations with the US. 
  • But as civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1958, China resumed the bombing, provoking the US to supply Taiwanese outposts on the islands.
•  The PRC and ROC then arrived at an arrangement to bomb each other’s garrisons on alternate days – this continued until 1971.
• The most serious encounter was in 1995-96, when China began testing missiles in the seas around Taiwan, triggering the biggest US mobilisation in the region since the Vietnam War. 
  • The tests led to the re-election in 1996 of President Lee Teng-hui, seen by the Chinese as a pro-independence leader.

How has Taiwan’s recent political and economic history unfolded?

• In 1975, Chiang Kai-shek died, martial law was lifted, and Taiwan got its first democratic reforms. 
• Starting from the 1990s, and despite the missile crisis, relations between the PRC and RoC improved, and trade ties were established. 
• As the British prepared to exit Hong Kong in 1999, the “One China, Two Systems” solution was offered to Taiwan as well, but it was rejected by the Taiwanese.
• In 2000, Taiwan got its first non-KMT government, when the Taiwanese nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency. 
• In 2004, China started drafting an anti-secession law aimed at Taiwan; trade and connectivity, however, continued to improve.
• The 2016 election of President Tsai marked the onset of a sharp pro-independence phase in Taiwan, and the current tensions with China coincided with her re-election in 2020.
  • Taiwan now has massive economic interests, including investments in China, and pro-independence sections worry that this might come in the way of their goals. 

Impacts on US and its response 

• Since Taiwan is entirely dependent on the US for its defence against possible Chinese aggression, every spike in military tensions between China and Taiwan injects more hostility in the already strained relationship between Washington and Beijing.
• One China Policy:
  • The US has a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards Taiwan. 
  • This means that it maintains ties with Taipei, and sells weapons to it, but officially subscribes to the PRC’s “One China Policy” in which Taiwan does not exist as a separate entity.
• AUKUS: 
  • The AUKUS pact among the US, UK, and Australia, under which Australia will be supplied with nuclear submarines, imparted a new dimension to the security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific. 
  • Taiwan welcomed the pact, while China denounced it as seriously undermining regional peace.

Implications of the rising tensions for India

• With India facing its own problems with China on the LAC, there have been suggestions that it should review its One China Policy .
  •  it has in any case long stopped reiterating this officially — and use not just the Tibet card, but also develop more robust relations with Taiwan to send a message to Beijing.
• India and Taiwan currently maintain “trade and cultural exchange” offices in each other’s capitals. 

Source:IE