Taiwan Relations Act

Taiwan Relations Act
Citations

Long title	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.
Acronyms (colloquial)	TRA
Enacted by	the 96th United States Congress
Public law	Pub.L. 96–8
Statutes at Large	93 Stat. 14
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as "United States-Taiwan Relations Act" (H.R. 2479 by Clement J. Zablocki (D-WI) on February 28, 1979 Committee consideration by House Foreign Affairs Passed the House on March 13, 1979 (345–55) Passed the Senate on March 14, 1979 (90–6) Reported by the joint conference committee on March 24, 1979; agreed to by the House on March 28, 1979 (339–50) and by the Senate on March 29, 1979 (85–4) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on April 10, 1979

The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA; Pub.L. 96–8, 93 Stat. 14, enacted April 10, 1979; H.R. 2479) is an act of the United States Congress. Since the recognition of the People's Republic of China, the Act has defined the substantial but non-diplomatic relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan.

In 1978, China regarded itself as in a "united front" with the U.S., Japan, and western Europe against the Soviets and thus established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979, supported American operations in Communist Afghanistan, and leveled a punitive expedition against Vietnam, America's main antagonist in Southeast Asia. In exchange, the United States abrogated its mutual defense treaty with the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan.

The ROC government mobilized its ethnic lobby in the United States to agitate Congress for the swift passage of an American security guarantee for the island. Taiwan could appeal to members of Congress on many fronts -- anti-communist China sentiment, a shared wartime history with the ROC, Beijing's human rights violations and its curtailment of religious freedoms, etc.