Primary Source Document
with Questions (DBQs)
T A I W A N R E L A T I O N S A C T ( A P R I L 1 0 , 1 9 7 9 )
Introduction
In 1972 United States President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The two
nations had not had diplomatic relations or trade relations since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The
United States had regarded China as part of the Communist bloc and thus a target of containment. The People’s
Republic had regarded the United States as an aggressive enemy power. Beginning in the late 1960s, however, both
sides showed interest in opening relations. Sporadic contacts developed into a more serious dialogue in late 1970
and early 1971, and by 1972, both sides were seriously interested in opening up relations.
President Nixon and his National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, viewed opening relations with China as a part of
the strategy for withdrawing the United States from the Vietnam War. They also saw a strategic advantage to
“playing the China card” in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. In China, Mao Zedong and his advisers were
equally interested in achieving balance in their foreign relations by playing the United States against the Soviet
Union, which they regarded as a threatening “hegemonist” and “revisionist” practicer of “social imperialism.”
As the relationship between the PRC and the United States deepened in the years after 1972, the two sides made
progress toward the establishment of full diplomatic relations. To establish full relations required that the United
States withdraw its troops from the island of Taiwan and withdraw diplomatic recognition of the government of the
Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. These conditions were fulfilled under U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and an
agreement on mutual recognition was issued on December 15, 1978.
The Democratic Carter administration’s recognition of the PRC (and withdrawal of recognition from the ROC) did not
go down well in the Republican-controlled Congress. Indeed, many members of Congress would have much
preferred not to extend diplomatic recognition to a Communist power. As a result, Congress passed the “Taiwan
Relations Act” of 1979 in order to lay the basis for a continuing relationship with Taiwan, albeit a relationship that fell
short of diplomatic recognition.
Document Excerpts with Questions




Taiwan
Relations
Act
(April
10,
1979)

[Public
Law
96‑8,
96th
Congress]



SECTION
1.

 This
Act
may
be
cited
as
the
“Taiwan
Relations
Act.”



Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs) on
TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT (APRIL 10, 1979)
Asia for Educators l Columbia University l http://afe.easia.columbia.edu Page 2 of 2
Findings
and
Declaration
of
Policy

SECTION
2.


(a)
 The
President
having
terminated
governmental
relations
between
the
United
States
and

the
governing
authorities
on
Taiwan
recognized
by
the
United
States
as
the
Republic
of
China

prior
to
January
1,
1979,
the
Congress
finds
that
the
enactment
of
this
Act
is
necessary
—


(1)

 to
help
maintain
peace,
security,
and
stability
in
the
Western
Pacific,
and

(2)
 to
 promote
 the
 foreign
 policy
 of
 the
 United
 States
 by
 authorizing
 the

continuation
 of
 commercial,
 cultural,
 and
 other
 relations
 between
 the

people
of
the
United
States
and
the
people
on
Taiwan.


(b)

 It
is
the
policy
of
the
United
States
‑


(1)

 to
 preserve
 and
 promote
 extensive,
 close,
 and
 friendly
 commercial,

cultural,
and
other
relations
between
the
people
of
the
United
States
and

the
people
on
Taiwan,
as
well
as
the
people
on
the
China
mainland
and

all
other
peoples
of
the
Western
Pacific
area;


(2)

 to
declare
that
peace
and
stability
in
the
area
are
in
the
political,
security,

and
 economic
 interests
 of
 the
 United
 States,
 and
 are
 matters
 of

international
concern;


(3)

 to
 make
 clear
 that
 the
 United
 States
 decision
 to
 establish
 diplomatic

relations
with
the
People’s
Republic
of
China
rests
upon
the
expectation

that
the
future
of
Taiwan
will
be
determined
by
peaceful
means;


(4)

 to
 consider
 any
 effort
 to
 determine
 the
 future
 of
 Taiwan
 by
 other
 than

peaceful
means,
including
by
boycotts
or
embargoes,
a
threat
to
the
peace

and
 security
 of
 the
 Western
 Pacific
 area
 and
 of
 grave
 concern
 to
 the

United
States;


(5)

 to
provide
Taiwan
with
arms
of
a
defensive
character;
and


(6)

 to
maintain
the
capacity
of
the
United
States
to
resist
any
resort
to
force
or

other
forms
of
coercion
that
would
jeopardize
the
security,
or
the
social
or

economic
system,
of
the
people
on
Taiwan.


(c)

 Nothing
contained
in
this
Act
shall
contravene
the
interest
of
the
United
States
in
human

rights,
 especially
 with
 respect
 to
 the
 human
 rights
 of
 all
 the
 approximately
 eighteen
 million

inhabitants
of
Taiwan.
The
preservation
and
enhancement
of
the
human
rights
of
all
the
people

on
Taiwan
are
hereby
reaffirmed
as
objectives
of
the
United
States.

…



Questions:
1. To what do the parts of the Taiwan Relations Act excerpted above commit
the United States?
Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs) on
TAIWAN RELATIONS ACT (APRIL 10, 1979)
Asia for Educators l Columbia University l http://afe.easia.columbia.edu Page 3 of 3
2. Do the declared policies of the United States pledge or commit the United
States to go to war in defense of Taiwan if the PRC invades the island?
3. How would you regard this Taiwan Relations Act if you were looking at it
from the point of view of a Communist Party leader in the People’s Republic?
4. How would you regard this Taiwan Relations Act if you looked at it from the
point of view of a political leader in Taiwan?