U.S. One China Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

U.S. One China Policy - Essay Example Before focusing on the one-China policy, it is important to discuss first the history of relations between Taiwan and the PRC. Prior to the 17th century, aborigines from Taiwan mainly inhabited the Island of Taiwan. However, with the successive waves of migration by the Han Chinese, the demographics of the island started to change. In 1662, Taiwan was brought under Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong’s control, prior to incorporation in 1683 into part of the Qing Dynasty (Tunsjà ¸ 92). The Dutch also briefly colonized Taiwan between 1624 and 1662, while the Spanish ruled Northern Taiwan between 1626 and 1642. Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was under colonial rule from the Japanese with the French also briefly ruling Northern Taiwan between 1884 and 1885. Under the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan existed as a prefecture of the province of Fuji as part of the Chinese government from 1683 up to 1887. In 1887, Taiwan became a separate province of China. It remained a province of China until 1895 a t which point the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded authority over Taiwan to the Japanese (Tunsjà ¸ 92).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After Japan had surrendered in Taipei in 1945, The Republic of China took over the role of governing polity in Taiwan under the KMT in a period that was characterized as a military occupation. However, the government of the Republic of China lost control in 1949 over the Chinese mainland after the Civil War on the mainland (Tunsjà ¸ 93)o 93). Since this was prior to the implementation of treaties made after the Second World War, the KMT withdrew to Taiwan that was still technically a territory of the Japanese. This exiled government under Chiang Kai-shek took over authority of Taiwan and avowed the Island was under martial law. After the renunciation of rights to Taiwanese territory through a peace treaty signed in San Francisco by the Japanese, Taiwan’s sovereignty was put under question. Neither the Treaty of San Francisco nor the Japanese-Chinese treaty dealt with the issue of Taiwan’s territorial sovereignty and its awar d to the KMT representing the Republic of China (Tunsjo 94). The governing body of the Republic of China is still the government in Taiwan with a transformation in the 90s towards democracy as the government lifted the martial law it had imposed in 1949. Since then, the political and legal status bequeathed on Taiwan has become an issue of contention and controversy with sentiments of Taiwan’s independence become more public and gaining some level of international support. At this point, it becomes important to discuss the role of the US in PRC-ROC relations, especially given that Taiwan is the second highest buyer of American made products after Canada. With the tensions between the PRC and the ROC, the United States has had to come up with a policy that allows it to continue relations with both territories. The one-China policy in the United State’s case was initially drafted in 1972 through the Shanghai Communique