When Taiwan was first returned to China after the fifty-year occupation of Japan, it seemed that there was the possibility for a peaceful reunion. Although the Nationalists eyed the Taiwanese warily, their ultimate goal was still to return Taiwan to the Chinese culture. After the Nationalists fled to Taiwan with the eruption of the Chinese civil war, the attempt to join the two lands disintegrated. The Republic of China (ROC), now located in Taiwan, was in a perpetual state of war with the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the world took sides as to who they wanted to become the world power.

In October of 1949, the Soviet Union made it clear that their support lay with Communist China by recognizing them as the sovereign state of China. In response to this, most other nations continued to recognize the ROC in Taiwan. The United States in 1950 resumed sending aid to the Nationalist Party in Taiwan, thus recognizing the change of location in government, and making them a full-fledged ally.

In 1954, the fighting between the two sides resumed with the bombing of Quemoy by the PRC in an effort to "liberate" Taiwan. These attacks spurred action on the part of the United States, and soon after the United States-Republic of China Defense Treaty was signed promising that each nation would help the other in times of attack. Although it was signed as a symbiotic relationship, it was obvious that the United States was offering the ROC security in the case of further aggression on the PRC's part.

Although in the 1950s the United States had supported the ROC in Taiwan, it soon became clear that they could not ignore the PRC and hope that the Nationalists would quickly over take the China mainland. 1971 the ROC was excluded from the UN, and their seat was given to the PRC. This was an incredible blow to the Nationalist cause, along with the many different communiques that were being communicated between the PRC and the US. The United States decided in 1979 that they would formally accept the PRC, and establish diplomatic ties, while unrecognizing the ROC in Taiwan. In order to try and soften these blows, the US passed the Taiwan Relations Act.

The Shanghai Communique, 1972.

(http://newtaiwan.virtualave.net/communique01.htm)

In 1980, the US-Republic of China Defense Treaty was terminated, but arms sales resume from the US to Taiwan. In response to this, another communique is signed in 1982 between the US and the PRC stating that eventually the US would slow and end the arms sales to Taiwan.

The early nineties seemed to be years of reconciliation between the PRC and the ROC. In 1991 the war between Taiwan and China is finally terminated by President Lee's declaration that the stance of using force to recover the mainland of China is over. This is followed in 1992 by a statute passed decreeing China as "one nation, two areas", and thus Taiwan recognized the laws of the mainland. In 1993 talks between the two governments began in Singapore to attempt to unify China and Taiwan.

These talks continue through the late nineties, when the communication dissolves. In 1999, the president of the Republic of China in Taiwan makes overtures toward the idea that Taiwan and China have a state-to-state relationship. This contradicts what the PRC was working toward with the reunification of China and Taiwan.

The issue of independence for Taiwan has become the central issue between China and Taiwan. While the president of Taiwan is working toward a sovereign state status, equal to that of China, the PRC is desperately trying to avoid that. China has threatened to take Taiwan by force if talk of independence continues and seems to be moving toward that goal. The United States has been trying to prevent a war between Taiwan and China, but is not able to effectively prevent one, without the chance of entering into war with China themselves.

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