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.
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.
For the first time in the history of cross-strait tensions, there was a real threat that Washington and the CCP could engage in war. Washington’s involvement would come in because of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. The implication of this Act is that the U.S. promised to protect Taiwan in the event of an attack. Therefore, if the CCP decided to engage in a war with Taiwan, the United States would have no choice but to support Taiwan.
The Qing Dynasty was able to take care of the 3 million people who lived within its borders. The people grew crops such as rice, spun silk, farmed tea roses, and make fine porcelain. The Qing Dynasty was the lone power in the Far East. That changed during the late 19th century, when imperialism spread to Asia. The great powers of Europe took interest in primarily Southeast Asia. After the colonization of Southeast Asia, the powers began taking interest in trading with China. They sailed to the trading port of Canton (present day Hong Kong) and offered manufactured goods for tea, silk, and porcelain. The Qing Dynasty accepted and trading began.
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.
China is interested in modernizing itself while at the same time maintaining security' is the only general statement that can be made about China's foreign policy. To achieve these two ends, China is willing to ignore conflicts that do not substantially affect its development or security. Economic organizations are welcomed because they facilitate economic development but security multilateralism is employed only where feasible, resulting in most security concerns solved bilaterally. This case-by-case determination of policy results in China supporting the status quo in some issues while challenging it in others. To better understand China's foreign policy requires an investigation into these three characteristics.
In 2005, Chile and China signed a free trade agreement, the first agreement of its type ever signed in Latin America. Since the agreement was signed, trade between China and Chile has grown exponentially. Chile is the leading country in Latin America that has maintained good relations with China, beginning in 1970 when Chile was the first South American country to recognize the Peoples Republic of China (Jenkins 2009). Over the years their relationship has continued to develop through the many rounds of discussions that have taken place since the FTA was first established. By examining the economic implications the China-Chile FTA has had on the Chilean economy, it is seen that while both countries trade markets are benefiting, the Chilean market is facing more negative impacts than the Chinese economy. Although both countries have solid reasoning to invest with one another, China has had much more to gain from entering into this trade relationship.
When you talk trade, and the foundations of powerful dynasties, you think China. When Marco Polo finally arrived in China in 1275, he described the ruler, Kublai Khan as the mightiest man. China was so advanced with riches, elements, and respect from underlings, that any of these could describe the comments Marco Polo had for Kublai Khan. Still, silk, porcelain, and tea, Chinas greatest products, attracted merchants from all around the world looking to trade.
In the 17th century, China implemented the Canton system. At first, foreigners were allowed to trade both in Canton (otherwise known as Guangzhou) and other ports. This was under the condition that the would have a security merchant to vouch for their behavior (Wills 2006). However, when the English decided to trade in Ningbo to get around having to have a security merchant, the Chinese government closed all ports except for Canton and implemented what is now known as the Cohong system, the system most closely associated with the Canton system (Wills 2006). This system maintained that trade could only be done with those merchants licensed by the government. Therefore, in this period, the Cohong had a monopoly over foreign trade. Although foreigners wanted China to open its ports, the truth was that China really didn't need foreign trade. As quoted by Michael Greenburg in British Trade and the Opening of China, “Had the entire foreign trade of China suddenly ceased in 1877, the economic life of the country would have been affected but very little.” This was due to China's self sufficient economy based on agriculture. The British found this lack of concern for international trade vexing, and according to Greenburg, “[attributed] the obnoxious restrictive ...
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...
Henry Hudson’s Dutch-sponsored voyage of 1609, which was trying to find a “Northwest passage to China” , revealed that it was possible to navigate farther inland. His men, like later visitors, noted the area’s climate and agricultural productivity were favorable for settlement. Robert Juet, one of Hudson’s seamen, found the land
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.
China has also expanded their trading industries with countries such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, ASEAN, India, Russia and Hong Kong. This has not satisfied the Chinese greed for income as they also export and import goods to American countries, name...
Since the initial warming of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970’s, policymakers have had difficulty balancing conflicting U.S. policy concerns in the People’s Republic of China. In the strange world of diplomacy between the two, nothing is predictable. From Nixon to Clinton, presidents have had to reconcile security and human rights concerns with the corporate desire for expanded economic relations between the two countries. Nixon established ties with Mao Zedong’s brutal regime in 1972. And today Clinton’s administration is trying to influence China’s course from within a close economic and diplomatic relationship.
In order to have a better understanding about the conflict of Tiananmen and its influence on further American relations with People’s Republic of China, this paper gives a short background of the bilateral relations until 1990. Historically, the United States and China did not have good relations due to the political regime of China. In addition, China was not that developed economically to have trade or any kinds of relations with the US. According to some historical data, the first China-US negotiations at the ambassadorial level started on August 1, 1955. The bilateral relations of America and China consist of several stages. The first stage of the US-Chinese relations started in 1971 when both opened their doors to financial and economic ties. The trading volume of these countries stood at US$ 4...