Author discusses difficult relationship between China and Taiwan at UCF

In a presentation titled "China-Taiwan Relations: The Next Step," Minxin Pei, the author of "China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy," discussed the history of China and Taiwan Thursday afternoon at UCF.

Pei spoke about the history of China and Taiwan starting back in the 1940s when China had a civil war, which resulted in the victory of the Chinese Communist Party and the departure of the nationalist government from mainland China to Taiwan. Pei said in 1895, Taiwan was ceded by China to Japan as a result of China's loss to Japan in a war.

"The legal status of Taiwan was always ambiguous," he said.

In the 1970s, an obstacle in restoring the relationship of China and the U.S. was the status of Taiwan, Pei said. The U.S. found that it was hard to abandon its longtime ally, but China said that it had to either end the relationship or acknowledge that Taiwan is communist.

The U.S. did not take a position on whether Taiwan is part of China, but acknowledged China's view that Taiwan is part of it. This view comes from the fact that the Chinese on both sides acknowledge there is one China, Pei said.

In 1979, the U.S. withdrew its armed troops from Taiwan, ending its relationship with Taiwan. However, the U.S. was afraid that Taiwan would be abandoned, so Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which Pei said included the U.S.'s obligation to ensure the security of Taiwan.

By the time Taiwan had its last presidential election in 2008, there was conflict that involved Taiwan and China, Pei said.

An issue was the Democratic Progressive Party not doing a good job in Taiwan's economic development. There was always a focus to cut economic costs during Taiwan's development.

There were also problems with the government. Chen Shui-bian, the former president of Taiwan, was corrupted and had stashed away millions of dollars in Swiss banks, Pei said.

The Nationalist Party replaced the Democratic Progressive Party. When they took over government, Beijing and Taipei improved relations. However, before the improvements in 2008, China and Taiwan were engaged in what Pei called a "laughable and wasteful competition" for diplomatic partners.

Taiwan and China would bid on countries to gain allies, but Taiwan eventually lost because China was able to outbid any price, Pei said. China also wanted to make sure no country in the world would recognize Taiwan as independent.

"You can declare independence, but if you have no other country that acknowledges that you are an independent country, it is no good at all," Pei said.

As relations improved,China appeared to be more patient with Taiwan, Pei said.

Pei said there are still problems because Taiwan is poor and the constituency is still anti-China. China has not done anything that will give assurance to the Taiwanese government.

Overall, the development is good news for the U.S. and for China, Pei said. People in Taiwan are genuinely positive in increasing relations with China in the economic area.

"We're looking ahead of at least six more years of relative stability," Pei said.

Judy Scherer, a UCF LIFE member who attended the lecture, said she has always been interested in China.

"You only know very superficially what's actually happening inside China, so to have someone who knows a lot about it is more interesting," Scherer said.

The event was held by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, along with UCF China-Taiwan Cross-Strait Program, C.T. Hsu and Associates, UCF Political Science Department, UCF International Services Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.