China

What is the 'One China' policy?

The 'One China' policy is a diplomatic formality between the U.S. and China to regard Taiwan as part of China's territory, even though the U.S. policy toward Taiwan is to support its right to pursue independence. The U.S., for example, provides Taiwan with weapons to defend itself.

What is the beef between China and Taiwan?

The One China policy grew out of a spoil of World War II in 1942 when China demanded the return of Taiwan from Japan:

1683 - China's Qing Dynasty formally annexes Taiwan, which had hitherto been divided between aboriginal kingdoms and Chinese and European settlers, most prominently the Dutch.

1895 - China cedes Taiwan among other territories to Japan after losing the First Sino-Japanese War.

1942 - Chinese Kuomintang government renounces all treaties with Japan and demands the return of Taiwan as part of any post-war settlement, which is endorsed by the Allies in the Cairo Declaration the following year.

1947 - Discontent with centralised rule by Kuomintang mainlanders boils over in 228 Incident. Chinese authorities imposes martial law, kill large numbers of protesters demanding free elections and clean government, and ban thousands of others from political activity.

1949 - Communist victory in Chinese Civil War leads to evacuation of Kuomintang government to Taiwan, along with about two million refugees. Mainlanders dominate island until the end of martial law in 1987.
Taiwan-based Republic of China government retains UN and Western recognition as legitimate government of all China until the 1970s.

1971 - UN recognises Communist China as sole government of whole country after veteran Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek refuses dual-representation deal. People's Republic takes over China's UN Security Council seat.

1996 - Free elections, in which Lee beats Democratic Progressive Party's Peng Min-ming. Communist China tries to disrupt elections with missile tests, curtailed by US dispatch of aircraft carriers to the region.

2001 April - US says it will go ahead with sales of submarines, warships and anti-submarine aircraft, but not the requested naval combat radar system Aegis. China protests and President George W Bush pledges to help Taiwan should China invade.

2001 June - Taiwan test-fires Patriot anti-missile defence system bought from US, as China carries out military exercises simulating invasion of island.

2005 March - Taiwan condemns a new Chinese law giving Beijing the legal right to use force should Taipei declare formal independence.

When President Trump accepted a congratulatory call from Taiwan's government, he betrayed etiquette regarding the One China policy by implicitly giving the image that the U.S. legitimizes Taiwan as a sovereign government. Some think this was a good, strong stance against China, whose relationship with the U.S. has several sensitive areas, including other territorial claims in the South China Sea, trade issues including debt to China, and human rights. 

On Feb. 9, 2017, President Trump called the President of China, Xi Jinping, to affirm that the U.S. will stand behind the One China policy.