Cross-Strait Relations The Cross-Strait relations refer to the bitter and unstable relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. The term comes from the relationship that both China and Taiwan has had, physically across the Taiwanese Strait. The relationship between the countries has been filled with war, tension, and little contact. In the earliest of Taiwanese history, both nations fought to seek diplomatic control as the legitimate form of Chinese government (Lee). In recent years, Taiwan has sought out to seek independence and separate from all ties with the Chinese mainland. China has continued its claim on Taiwan and its people, threatening military action against any act of independence. While the tensions are high between the two nations, each country has seen the benefits to maintaining an economic relationships with each other (Mack). From 2008 and on, the "three links" of transportation, commerce, and communication have been at the forefront of the diplomatic relationship. Taiwan has gone through multiple phases of conflict throughout its history. As early as the Chinese dynasties, Taiwan had no formal ties with mainland China. As the 16th and 17th century progressed, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch explorers began to settle the land (Zhang). Each foreign power sought fit to claim its resources and strategic position in the China Sea. The Spanish, invaded Taiwan in 1626 and, with the help of the Ketagalan (one of the plains tribes), discovered sulfur, a main ingredient in gunpowder, in Yangmingshan, a mountain range that overlooks Taipei. After the Spanish and Dutch were forced out of Taiwan, Mainland Chinese returned in 1697 to mine sulfur. (Mack) Foreign powers would continue to inha... ... middle of paper ... ...791A000CA8566>. Lang, Peter. "Taiwan and the International Community." Startseite. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.. Lee, Youkyung. "China-Taiwan Relations." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 11 Aug. 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. . Mack, Lauren. "Taiwan History - A Brief History of Taiwan." About.com Chinese Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. . "Taiwanese Timeline." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. . Zhang, Qiyun. An Outline History of Taiwan. Taipei: China Culture Pub. Foundation, 1953. Print.
Due to their contrasting but also similar views of economic expansion, the Portuguese and the Chinese had different structures and values of their societies. Both societies were very involved in trading and exploration, however they had different reasons for exploration. The Portuguese and Prince Henry wanted to reach Asian lands by sailing down the coast of Afric...
The lack of imperial political interests and support in navy expeditions to foreign countries was the main reason why China withdrew from the ocean after Zheng He’s 7 voyages. However, the political significance and legacy of Zheng He’s expeditions cannot be ignored. It strengthened the Middle Kingdom’s power and influence in Asia during the early years of the Ming Dynasty. The peaceful nature of Zheng He’s voyages is still used by the Chinese government today as a political tool to advocate the benevolent intention of contemporary Chinese foreign policy (Dreyer, p. 29). Works Cited 1.
Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia all claimed sole trading points to their selected “spheres of influence.” Some of these countries’ even claimed that the territory that lay within their spheres was their own. With the United States’ recent acquisition of the Philippines, they too were now an Asian power just 400 miles away from Mainland China. This closeness resulted in American businesses hoping to take advantage of China’s tremendous resources. The various spheres of influence, however, challenged their ambitions.
The United States of America has long been a fantastic dream for most people in the world. They believe that streets in that mysterious land are paved with gold and one can make a really big fortune the moment he steps onto the land. In a word, America is hyped up in many countries as "Land of Opportunity." For this beautiful dream, many of them risked their lives, left their hometown and set out for this treasure land at the other side of the world. Around 200 years later, the Chinese people began to follow suit.
For several centuries the Europeans were always trying to have the best of the best in their country. Because they were so greedy they went of on several voyages to trade and gain those products they desired like silk, porcelain, tea, and lacquer-ware. With this the Europeans were always trying to out due and impress the Chinese with their clocks and their scientific gadgets. But they were never impressed, the Chinese always believed they were better and never wanted much to do with the Europeans. The Chinese were always very advanced in every skill; they believed that they had all that they needed to be a strong nation.
The Chinese empire had once been one of the greatest and most powerful empires in the world. Before the 19th century, China had a large population and was ruled by families or dynasties. It was considered technologically advanced as China had a history of many miraculous inventions, such as: writing, magnetic compasses, movable sails, porcelain, abacus and paper money. Although China was isolated from the rest of the world, it coped well on its own, and saw no need to begin trading with the west, (as Lord McCartney proposed in 1793), since it was a self-sufficient nation. At that particular time, the Chinese empire was still able to exclude the ‘barbarians’, thus forcing them to only trade at one port. However, China soon took a turn for the worst as important ...
During the mid 1400’s, China was plagued with many political problems. Therefore, if China was to discover the New World, it would have been during the late 1300’s under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. As stated in Latourette’s book, “From the military standpoint the Ming was stronger than any native Chinese ruling house” (225). Basically in this quote Latourette is saying that during the Ming Dynasty China was at a high point in power. Because of the Ming Dynasty, China was strong and able again. If China were looking to expand, the best time would be during the Ming Dynasty because the Chinese empire was at a peak. However, the Chinese didn’t take advantage of their strong naval fleets and therefore they weren’t able to reach North America before Columbus.
Japan had to open ports to foreign commerce when they lost the fight against Europe and America in Tokyo Bay (Bentley 508). After losing, Japan began industrializing and soon enhanced their military by investing in tools from western empires, who had very strong and powerful militaries. Once Japan had built a strong military they began to fight for Korea. They fought China and “demolished the Chinese fleet in a battle lasting a mere five hours,” and they later gained Korea and treaty rights in China (Bentley 550). China’s military was very weak. After losing Hong Kong and many trading ports to western empires following the Opium War, China was in trouble. Chinese people began rebelling against the Qing Dynasty. After the most popular rebellion, The Taiping Rebellion, China began the Self-Strengthening Movement. “While holding to Confucian values, movement leaders built shipyards, constructed railroads, established weapons industries, opened steel foundries with blast furnaces, and founded academies to develop scientific expertise” (Bentley 543). After doing all of these things, China still did not have a strong enough military. They continued to deal with problems from the western
In the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, China at the time confronted impending risk of being parceled and colonized by colonialist powers...
In the book, When China Ruled the Seas, Levathes talks about seven voyages made by the Chinese armadas during emperor Zhu Di's reign. Admiral Zheng was in control of many “Treasure ships”. These ships traded silk, porcelain, and many other fine goods. They sailed from India to East Africa, through Korea and Japan, and might have even traveled all the way to Australia. Levathes believes that it could have been very possible for China to have been able to create a great kingdom to rule over one hundred years before the Europeans even explored and expanded, with China's giant navy of about three thousand of these large treasure ships.
The geography of China was something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world. With deserts and the Himalayas running along most of the border, it was extremely difficult to cross over one of the most dangerous mountain ranges in the world and a few other scorching deserts with the little transport they had during that time. The only way merchants could come into the country was the southeastern coast of China where most of the prosper cities resided. What led China to become conceited was because they had an abundant of goods that most of the world wanted. In 1760-1830s, China was famous for its porcelain (rich Europeans loved it), silk, and of course, tea. Since this Eastern Powerhouse’s goods were so popular, therefore, there were only a few things that interested them to trade with. It seemed as if tea was a drug for the Europeans because for them it was just so addicting, to the point they would do anything just to get more and more. The only things that were worthy for trading with the Chinese were gingko (type of plant), shark fin, a soft type of wood (used for incense) and silver. As the demand for tea rose, Britain gradually ran out of silver to trade with, and was desperate to find what China wanted. Then, the British resorted to trading opium. China was very picky of their opium. There was a certain kind of make they wanted, it was a compact ball wr...
Zhang, Jianhong, Arjen van Witteloostuijn, and J. Paul Elhorst. "China's Politics and Bilateral Trade Linkages." Asian Journal of Political Science 19.1 (2011): 25-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Since then, both countries have existed in neither a state of complete independence nor integration of neither war nor peace. The United States has committed to defend Taiwan if attacked by china in the Taiwan relations act of 1979, in which the US president carter officially began diplomatic relations with the people’s republic of china and gave token recognition to their “one china policy” and its agenda of reunification. Instead of maintaining a significant deployable military force in the region, the United States has sold billions of dollars worth of arms to Taiwan, from small arms, to ships, fighter aircraft, and patriot missiles. Despite the arms sales to Taiwan and vows to defend it if attacked, the United States also has significant economic ties to both china and Taiwan. Since, then it has been trying to maintain the “status quo” of the current situation.
The Instability of China–US Relations", The Chinese Journal of International Politics 3, no. 3 (2010): 263-292, http://cjip.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/3/263.
With the end of the Cold War emerged two superpowers: The United States and the Soviet Union. The international system then was considered bipolar, a system where power is distributed in which two states have the majority of military, economic, and cultural influence both internationally and regionally. In this case, spheres of influence developed, meaning Western and democratic states fell under the influence of U.S. while most communist states were under the influence of the Soviet Union. Today, the international system is no longer bipolar, since only one superpower can exist, and indisputably that nation is the United States. However China is encroaching on this title with their rapid growth educationally, economically, and militaristically.