The U.S.-China-Taiwan Relationship: New Circumstances, Persistent Challenges

Abstract

The strategic, political, and economic context of cross-Strait relations has undergone undeniably important changes that bring into view the possibility of permanently taking the Taiwan Strait off the list of global “flash points,” a position it has occupied for decades. Achieving peace in the Strait, nevertheless, faces many familiar obstacles. Achieving the kind of peace that satisfies all of the parties involved will be even more difficult. Recent developments at the start of what is being called a new era in cross-Strait relations favor China and those in Taiwan who believe that Taiwan is ultimately part of China, raising questions about the reaction of “green”-oriented Taiwanese and the new U.S. administration.