TRA at 40: Shirley Kan discusses the enduring importance of America's Taiwan Relations Act

Описание: Enacted in 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act followed the decision of President Jimmy Carter to recognize the People's Republic of China and to break formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The act is to "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." Among its provisions are a statement that the use of coercive means to determine the future of Taiwan would be considered a threat to the peace and stability of the region and "of grave concern" of the U.S. It authorizes the sale of weapons of a defensive character to Taiwan.

In this video, Shirley Kan discusses what the TRA is and how it has functioned. She explains why it is important to the United States and to peace in East Asia.

For a quarter century, Shirley Kan served in the United States government, most prominently as a specialist in security affairs at the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, a branch of the U.S. Library of Congress. Now an independent analyst, Kan has published articles in the National Bureau of Asian Research and in the Global Taiwan Institute Brief. This interview was recorded following a roundtable conversation she had on January 17, 2019 at the USC U.S.-China Institute.

To learn more about the Taiwan Relations Act, visit: https://china.usc.edu/tra-40-shirley-...