Alaska summit: officials’ take on ‘one-China’ reveals two opinions on Taiwan

Washington may have switched its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing from Taipei in 1979 but that doesn’t mean it supports the mainland’s goal to ‘reunify’ the self-ruled island, observers say

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the talks in Anchorage that the two sides remained fundamentally at odds over Taiwan

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Washington may have switched its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing from Taipei in 1979 but that doesn’t mean it supports the mainland’s goal to ‘reunify’ the self-ruled island, observers say.

Published: 8:00am, 21 Mar 2021Updated: 11:58am, 22 Mar 2021

US officials attending the high-level talks in Alaska pledged to uphold the one-China principle, Beijing said on Saturday, though analysts were quick to point out that this did not mean Washington supported the mainland’s goal to “reclaim” Taiwan.

Although the self-ruled island has never been governed by the Communist Party, Beijing considers it part of its sovereign territory and has not ruled out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland.

The Chinese delegation in Anchorage issued the statement after a press conference at the end of the talks in Anchorage, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a separate event that Taiwan was one of the issues on which Washington and Beijing were “fundamentally at odds”.

The United States switched its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing from Taipei in 1979, and the mainland has insisted Washington recognise that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of it. However, despite acknowledging Beijing as the sole government of China, the US has never recognised its sovereignty over Taiwan, which is the keystone of the one-China policy.

The Chinese delegation at the Alaska talks says the US side pledged to uphold the one-China policy. Photo: Reuters

Wang Kung-yi, head of the Taiwan International Strategic Study Society, a Taipei-based think tank, said there was no question that the US acknowledged the mainland’s stance on Taiwan being part of China, but it had never given its support for Beijing to “take back” the island.

“By saying that it would uphold the one-China policy, the US was merely reiterating its long-standing position and that there had been no change in the substance of that policy,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left, pictured with national security adviser Jake Sullivan) says the US and China are “fundamentally at odds” over Taiwan. Photo: Reuters