U.S. Establishes Diplomatic Relations with PRC

Source: Severance of US-Taiwan Diplomatic Relations
From: Education Encyclopedia
Date: 1999Author: Lee Hsiao-feng

On December 16, 1978, US President Carter announced that the United States would establish full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China effective January 1, 1979, and would terminate the US-Taiwan Mutual Defense Treaty. This was another major diplomatic defeat for the Chiang regime, following Taiwan’s expulsion from the United Nations. The following day, Chiang Ching-kuo issued a statement lodging the strongest possible protest against the US recognition of “the communist pseudo-regime” and ordered an immediate halt to all ongoing supplementary elections for additional national representatives. After severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the United States established the “American Institute in Taiwan” in Taipei, while the Taiwan authorities set up the “Coordination Council for North American Affairs” as their de facto embassy in the US. To fill the security vacuum created by the severance of US-Taiwan diplomatic relations, the US Congress enacted a domestic law — the Taiwan Relations Act — to provide Taiwan with the capacity for self-defense, stating that the US President and Congress would, through constitutional processes, respond to any crisis in the Taiwan Strait. President Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act on April 10, 1979; its legislative purpose stated: “This Act is to help maintain peace, security, and stability in the Western Pacific and 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, and for other purposes.”

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External Links

• US-China Relations (Wikipedia)
• US-China Normalization (Education Encyclopedia)
• Deng Xiaoping’s 1979 Visit to the US and US-China Normalization (HSR’s Blog)
• US-China Joint Communiqué (Chinese Encyclopedia Online)