When US president-elect Donald Trump got a call from Taiwan’s president on Friday, it stunned diplomats all over the world because it violated the ‘One China’ policy. China lodged a formal protest with America and called the incident ‘petty’. Why was China all upset? A look
Where is Taiwan?
Taiwan, officially called the Republic of China, is an island to the east of China. In 1895, China ceded Taiwan and other territories to Japan after losing the FIrst Sino-Japanese War. At the end of World War II, the US placed the island under China’s control
After a few years, a civil war broke out between the Chinese Communist party and the ruling Kuomintang. The Communist victory in the war drove the Kuomintang government to Taiwan, along with about two million refugees, according to BBC. Even though fighting stopped, both sides continued to claim all of China
Caught in the Cold War
This conflict became global and countries started taking sides. The Soviet and its allies recognised Beijing as China’s rightful government, while the US and its allies recognised Taiwan. For years, even the UN seat for China was held by the Taiwan government. But in 1971, Beijing took over the UN seat and the next year American President Richard M Nixon travelled to mainland China. After seven years America switched its recognition to Beijing, and many countries followed suit. Until Trump’s call, no American president or president-elect is known to have contacted Taiwan