By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
There has been tension between China and Taiwan — a small island off the Chinese coast — ever since the Chinese revolution in 1949, when the Communist Party claimed control of mainland China.
Chinese officials have long sought reunification of Taiwan with mainland China, but the United States has generally sided with Taiwan because it views the island as a barrier to the Chinese navy.
Earlier this month, President George W. Bush gave approval to a $6.5 billion arms sale to Taiwan — a deal that was not unexpected, since it had been in the works for seven years, according to Dr. Harold Tanner, who spoke to the Lawrence Historical Society Oct. 12 at the fifth annual Mary Tanner Lecture.
But that move angered China, said Dr. Tanner, who is Ms. Tanner’s son and a professor of Chinese history at the University of North Texas.
”The U.S. is deeply involved with Taiwan, but suppose things go wrong,” he told the audience at Rider University. “China claims Taiwan as part of China and (it claims) the Taiwan government is illegitimate. Suppose China blockades Taiwan. Suppose the president decides to send the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet to the region to escort ships through the blockade.”
That’s going to be a problem for the next U.S. president, Dr. Tanner said. But how did the U.S. reach this point, and does it have a moral and legal obligation to defend Taiwan?
The U.S. began to view Taiwan favorably as a barrier to mainland China and the expansion of communism during the Korean War. President Harry Truman sent the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet to the area and from that point onward, Taiwan enjoyed the support of the U.S., Dr. Tanner said.
But in the 1970s, the U.S. developed a relationship with China, Dr. Tanner said. President Richard Nixon wanted China on the American side during the Cold War with Russia, he said. It was around that time that the U.S. acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China, he said.
The American position has shifted back and forth over the years, Dr. Tanner said. It has made it policy to defend Taiwan against China. At other times, the U.S. has indicated it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan, he said.
But then in the mid-1990s, President Bill Clinton sent the U.S. Navy toward Taiwan, he said. China had test-fired missiles over the Taiwan Straits. This was the closest that the U.S. had come to a war with China over Taiwan, he added.
Lately, the U.S. has adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity, not letting on whether it would defend Taiwan, Dr. Tanner said. Maybe the U.S. would defend Taiwan, and then maybe it would not, he said.

