Donald Trump's phone call with Taiwan president risks China's wrath

[Dill]

(12-03-2016, 10:47 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Doesn't the Taiwan Relations Act outline our relationship with Taiwan? From what I gather Taiwan is modeled more in our image and the riff with the mainland (China) is that they want to be a democracy.

When did we start advocating shunning Nations that want Democracy?

Not exactly. The Taiwan Relations Act was a reaction of Congressional anti-Communists to the 1979 Joint Communique between the US and PRC.  Within the one China policy already established, it provides a framework for conducting business with Taiwan outside any official diplomatic channel or institution. E.g., we can't call it the "Republic of China" anymore. So it is a kind of addendum to the Joint Communique, and does not alter recognition of the PRC as the government of China.

The "riff" with China is that the Taiwanese government is the remainder of the Guomintang, Chiang Kai Shek's party and government, expelled from the mainland in 1949.  They still claim to be the legitimate government of China, but it made little sense to recognize them as such while a billion plus Chinese live on the mainland outside their jurisdiction.

Post- WWII, anti-Communist presidents have never had a problem "shunning" nations that want Democracy when their Democracy conflicted with the perceived national interest. A quick google of the history of US relations with Chile (1973), Guatemala (1982), and Iran (1953) among others will establish that.

But the US is hardly shunning Taiwan, at least not economically.