Taiwan Credit Insight 7: The United States, China & Taiwan

Officially, the United States has supported the One-China policy since WWII, which acknowledged only one Government as the sole legal Government of China. So how does the United States relate to Mainland China and Taiwan?

On January 1, 1979, the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, formally announces the commencement of normal relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China (the Mainland China).

In so doing, the United States recognized that the Government of the People's Republic of China was the sole legal government of China instead of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Also, the United States Government declared that it would end the formal political relations with Taiwan while preserving economic and cultural ties.

While Taiwan lost its seat in the UN, it maintained influence because of its steady and high economic growth and close relationship with the United States. Taiwan’s politically weak but economically strong position has changed since Mainland China implemented its economic reform in 1978, launching a period of unprecedented growth. Ever since Mainland China has become one of Taiwan’s largest trading partners (in 2015, US$ 71.1 billion constituted 25.4% of total Taiwan exports), the two regions have taken on a complicated, partly-symbiotic, partly-hostile relationship.

This Credit Insight is an extract from the book Happy Customers Faster Cash, Taiwan Edition and it is now on sale at Amazon.

This book is a learning tool for people engaged in the credit process. It contains three extensive chapters about credit management, business culture and communication with the focus in Taiwan. A chapter is dedicated to discussing various aspects of Taiwan company credit reports.