On January 1, 1979, the United States formally recognized the People’s Republic of China and terminated governmental relations with the ruling authorities on Taiwan. By April 10 of that year, however, Congress passed a law to protect U.S. interests in continued commercial, cultural, and strategic ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan and its citizens. That law became known as the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).

On April 14 of this year, AEI joined forces with the Heritage Foundation to hold an all-day conference in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the act and to discuss the future of U.S.-Taiwanese relations.

Three U.S. senators spoke at the event, including Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), and the keynote speaker, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). Sen. Helms expressed his ardent support for the act and for the people of Taiwan, saying "if any nation ever earned its right to be free and independent, the Republic of China on Taiwan certainly did."

Sen. Helms pointed to the development of multiparty democracy and to the spectacular increase in prosperity on Taiwan over the past two decades, and while he credited those achievements to the striving of the people of Taiwan, he considered the TRA an important factor in enabling the successes: "In my view, none of them would have been possible without the defense provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act, which put Red China on notice that the United States expects them to keep their hands off our friends."

Looking at the present, Sen. Helms voiced concern that the Clinton administration will give in to pressure from Beijing to curtail U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, thereby contradicting the explicit provisions of the TRA. In an effort to prevent such a move, Sen. Helms has introduced the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which seeks to prohibit "any and all politically motivated reductions in arms sales to Taiwan." The proposed legislation would expand the variety of defensive weapons that can be sold to Taiwan and would establish direct communications between U.S. and ROC armed forces.

Another featured speaker at the conference was Fredrick F. Chien, former speaker of the National Assembly and former minister for foreign affairs of the Republic of China. Chien elaborated on the significance of the progress toward democracy that Sen. Helms had acknowledged: "The political landscape in the Republic of China has been completely transformed over the last ten years. The degree of freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights enjoyed on Taiwan is completely unprecedented in Chinese history. All our officials, from the president on down, are popularly chosen through multiparty elections. Freedom of the press, speech, and petition undergird the representative policy processes of government. We are helping to promote the American values of political liberalization within the developing world. Surely it is not unrealistic to suggest that Taiwan provides the ideal model for mainland China’s political and social reformation in the twenty-first century."

In Chien’s estimation, the TRA is the "cornerstone of the most unique and unprecedented nondiplomatic relationship between two countries ever developed, and a legislative monument to the special bond between our two countries." Although "there can never be any perfect substitute for normal diplomatic relations between two countries, the TRA has worked quite well in cultivating trust and productive teamwork between our two peoples."