The Three Communiqués or Three Joint Communiqués (Chinese :三个联合公报) are a collection of three joint statements made by the governments of the United States (US) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The communiqués played a crucial role in the establishment of relations between the US and the PRC and continue to be an essential element in dialogue between the two states, along with the Six Assurances and Taiwan Relations Act. [1]
The first communiqué (February 28, 1972), known as the Shanghai Communiqué, summarizes the landmark dialogue begun by President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai during February 1972. Some of the issues addressed in this communiqué include the two sides' views on Vietnam, the Korean Peninsula, India and Pakistan and the Kashmir region, and perhaps most importantly, the Taiwan (Republic of China) issue (i.e., Taiwan's political status). Essentially, both sides agreed to respect each other's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States formally acknowledged that "all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China".
The use of the word "acknowledge" (rather than "accept") is often cited as an example of the United States' ambiguous position regarding the future of Taiwan. [1]
The second communiqué (January 1, 1979), the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, formally announces the commencement of normal relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. In so doing, the United States recognized that the government of the People's Republic of China was the sole legal government of China, and acknowledged the PRC's position that Taiwan is part of China. [2] In addition, the United States government declared that it would end formal political relations with the Republic of China ("Taiwan") while preserving economic and cultural ties. Both sides reaffirmed their wish to reduce the risk of international conflict as well as avoidance of hegemony of any nation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The third communiqué (August 17, 1982), also known as the August 17th communiqué, [3] reaffirms the desire of both sides to further strengthen economic, cultural, educational, scientific, and technological ties. Both sides also reaffirmed the statements made about the Taiwan issue in the previous communiqué. Although no definitive conclusions were reached on the issue of arms sale to Taiwan, the United States declared its intent to continue selling arms to Taiwan and to gradually change its level of arms sales consistent with the PRC's militarization of the Taiwan strait.
A declassified cable sent on July 10, 1982, from Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger to AIT director James R. Lilley explained that reducing arms sales to Taiwan would be contingent on the commitment of the PRC to a peace across the Taiwan Strait. [4] Afterwards, the US clarified the third communique by issuing the Six Assurances to Taiwan.
The Republic of China (ROC), often known informally as Taiwan, currently has formal diplomatic relations with 12 of the 193 United Nations member states and with the Holy See, which governs Vatican City, as of 1 July 2023. In addition to these relations, the ROC also maintains unofficial relations with 59 UN member states, one self-declared state (Somaliland), three territories (Guam, Hong Kong, and Macau), and the European Union via its representative offices and consulates under the One China principle. The Government of the Republic of China has the 31st largest diplomatic network in the world with 110 offices.
The Taiwan Relations Act is an act of the United States Congress. Since the formal recognition of the People's Republic of China, the Act has defined the officially substantial but non-diplomatic relations between the US and Taiwan.
The controversy surrounding the political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is a result of World War II, the second phase of the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949), and the Cold War.
The term One China may refer to one of the following:
The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (U.S.) has been complex since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China (ROC) to Taiwan in 1949. They have close economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a hegemonic great power rivalry throughout the Asia-Pacific and beyond. While both countries have mutual political, economic, and security interests, there are also unresolved concerns, with differentiating views such as on the political status of Taiwan or territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both countries are economic juggernauts – China and the United States are respectively the world's second and first-largest economies by nominal GDP and the first and second-largest economies by GDP PPP; collectively they make up 44.2% of the world GDP by nominal and 34.7% by PPP.
The Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China, also known as the Shanghai Communiqué (1972), was a diplomatic document issued by the United States of America and the People's Republic of China on February 27, 1972, on the last evening of President Richard Nixon's visit to China.
The Six Assurances are six key foreign policy principles of the United States regarding United States–Taiwan relations. They were passed as unilateral U.S. clarifications to the Third Communiqué between the United States and the People's Republic of China in 1982. They were intended to reassure both Taiwan and the United States Congress that the US would continue to support Taiwan even if it had earlier cut formal diplomatic relations.
In American politics, the China lobby consisted of advocacy groups calling for American support for the Republic of China during the period from the 1930s until US recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1979, and then calling for closer ties with the PRC thereafter.
The Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China was signed on September 29, 1972, in Beijing. The communique established and normalized diplomatic relations between Japan and the People's Republic of China (PRC), resulted in the severing of official relations between Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The document produced nine articles in a joint statement, showing compromises on previously ambiguous principles enunciated by both sides. Of these, four points are particularly worthy of attention:
The Anti-Secession Law is a law of the People's Republic of China, passed by the 3rd Session of the 10th National People's Congress. It was ratified on March 14, 2005, and went into effect immediately. President Hu Jintao promulgated the law with Presidential Decree No. 34. Although the law, at ten articles, is relatively short, Article 8 formalized the long-standing policy of the PRC to use military means against Taiwan independence in the event peaceful means become otherwise impossible. The law does not explicitly equate "China" with the People's Republic of China.
The Formosa Resolution of 1955 was a joint resolution passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 29, 1955, to counteract the threat of an invasion of Taiwan by the People's Republic of China (PRC). The resolution gave the U.S. president the authority “to employ the Armed Forces of the United States as he deems necessary for the specific purpose of securing and protecting Formosa and the Pescadores against armed attack [by the Communists]”.
Cross-Strait relations are the relations between China and Taiwan.
The 1972 visit by United States President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China was an important strategic and diplomatic overture that marked the culmination of the Nixon administration's resumption of harmonious relations between the United States (U.S.) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) after years of diplomatic isolation. The seven-day official visit to three Chinese cities was the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC; Nixon's arrival in Beijing ended 25 years of no communication or diplomatic ties between the two countries and was the key step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and the PRC. Nixon visited the PRC to gain more leverage over relations with the Soviet Union, following the Sino-Soviet Split. The normalization of ties culminated in 1979, when the U.S. established full diplomatic relations with the PRC.
The Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations of January 1, 1979, established official relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.
The complex relationship between Japan and Taiwan dates back to 1592 during the Sengoku period of Japan when the Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent an envoy named Harada Magoshichirou to the Takasago Koku 高砂国 (Taiwan). The bilateral trading relations continued through the Dutch colonial rule and the Tungning Kingdom of Taiwan in 17th century before the completion of Japan's Sakoku policy. After the Meiji restoration in latter half of the 19th century, Japan resumed its ambition upon Taiwan and successfully annexed Taiwan under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945, until the surrender of Japan after World War II. Taiwan was also surrendered by Japan to the Republic of China in 25th October 1945.
The bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the United States of America is the subject of the Japan-U.S. relations during Japanese colonial rule and China-U.S. relations before the government of the Republic of China (ROC) led by the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan and its neighboring islands as a result of the Chinese Civil War and until the U.S. ceased recognizing the ROC in 1979 as "China" as a result of the One China policy following the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations under the Carter administration. Prior to relations with the ROC, the United States had diplomatic relations with the Qing dynasty beginning on June 16, 1844 until 1912.
Bilateral relations between the Russian Federation's predecessor the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of China were established from 1922 until 1949 when it switched to the recognition of the People's Republic of China. Russia currently doesn't have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, considering it to be an "inalienable" part of the People's Republic of China.
With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, American immigration policy towards Chinese emigrants and the highly controversial subject of foreign policy with regard to the PRC became invariably connected. The United States government was presented with the dilemma of what to do with two separate "Chinas". Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China wanted be seen as the legitimate government and both parties believed that immigration would assist them in doing so.
Relations between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Republic of China, formerly the Qing dynasty, date back to 1909. Since 1972, the political status and legal status of Taiwan have been contentious issues. Australia and Taiwan share partnership in the inter-governmental Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) activities.
US-China strategic engagement refers to a wide range of specific practices and interaction including economic cooperation, public diplomacy, military and foreign aid between the United States and China. This phase of engagement can be traced back to the late 1960s following an intense period of hostility caused by indirect confrontation between the two countries, particularly during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. With the US' support for Taiwan during the Taiwan Strait crises and its military expansion in the Pacific region, the relationship grew more antagonistic for the Chinese government perceive these initiatives to be US' attempt to encircle China. The domestic upheaval as a result of the Cultural Revolution in China and its commitment to communism through political radicalism accelerated the conflict. The four presidencies preceding the Bush administration were said to embrace a national policy direction toward strategic ambiguity, or deliberate ambiguity particularly in dealing with China. In October 2018, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech at the Hudson Institute on China, signifying the end of strategic engagement and officially proclaiming a new stage in the bilateral relationship, strategic competition.
