One of the more interesting oddities of world politics has been the long going debate over the dueling governments of the Peoples Republic of China (aka Mainland China) and the Republic of China (aka Taiwan). For those not entirely familiar with the history I’ll offer a brief review.
For much of the first half of the 20th century the nation of China was embroiled in a civil war between the Nationalist government and the Communist opposition. The war ended in 1949 when the Communists won and established the PRC while what was left of the Nationalist regime fled to the island of Taiwan, about 100 miles away.
Each government claimed to be the sole legitimate one for all of China, with the Nationalists claiming control over the mainland and the Communists claiming control of Taiwan. For more than twenty years the United States supported the patently ridiculous claim of the Nationalists, refusing to recognize the reality of the PRC.
Finally in 1972 the Nixon adminstration took the step that should have been taken many years earlier and recognized the reality of the PRC, leading eventually to full diplomatic relations in 1979. One of the conditions of establishing these ties was that we, at least on some level, accept the PRC claim to control Taiwan.
A series of diplomatic winks and nods were used to achieve this requirement. Officially the United States does not recognize any government in Taiwan but we have ‘unofficial contacts’ with government officials in Tapei and many companies do business with the country.
Now as I’ve said before, it was ridiculous for the United States to pretend that the PRC did not exist and that it did not rule mainland China. It was and is equally stupid for Taiwan to pretend that it somehow rules that territory. But it is also stupid for anyone, including the PRC, to pretend that they control Taiwan. The Nationalist government is there and is likely to remain for decades to come.
So is it time for us to give up the game and for everyone (the US, the PRC and the ROC) to recognize the reality of what is or do we keep playing the diplomatic games ?