The escalating conflict between China and Taiwan has been prevalent for a long time.
In recent weeks, there has been a growing conflict between China and Taiwan that has a history of territorial disputes and involves the international community. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has tried to invade Taiwan many times. Mainland China says that Taiwan is part of their territory. According to BBC News, the PRC’s government has maintained that Taiwan belongs to them because in 239 A.D. a recorded expedition force was sent by an emperor to explore the territory.
During the 1950s, China and Taiwan were in dispute over the islands that are a part of the Taiwan region. This conflict was known as the Taiwan Strait Crisis. China claimed to be owners of several islands that were in the Taiwan Strait region. The 1950s was also the decade of the Cold War in parts of east Asia. In September of 1954, China attacked Mazu and the Dachen Islands due to the creation of the southeastern Asia Organization Treaty, which was created to prevent the spread of communist ideology into the region.
The PRC did not take this policy as a welcoming gesture and instead felt threatened for its own national security interests. The need to attack Taiwan was a form of retaliation on their end. After that, American troops were brought in to ensure the security of Taiwan and the southeastern Asia Organization Treaty guaranteed the Taiwan government the military support they would need if China ever escalated its attack. The Taiwan Strait Conflict started to ease in the end of 1954. President Eisenhower created a “Formosa Resolution,” which would support and defend Taiwan on its offshore islands against the communist Chinese military.
In September of 1955, the United States and the PRC discussed matters to ease tensions in the territory of the islands of Taiwan. Even though China stopped attacking the Taiwan territory, they resumed their assault in the territories of Jinmen and Mazu in 1958. The United States aided the Taiwanese government with some military supplies and the tension started to ease more.
Currently, the Chinese Government is trying to once again militarily attack Taiwan. The conflict is still being justified with claims that China imposes the right to possess the entire territory of Taiwan. China plans to attack Taiwan by military force and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen said that China’s threat is growing more every day.
“Here is this island of 23 million people trying hard everyday to protect ourselves and our democracy and making sure that our people have the kind of freedom they deserve,” President Ing-Wen said in an interview on CNN in October of 2021.
The democracy of Taiwan is vulnerable if Chinese forces attack its territories and for this reason, American troops have been placed for training if China were to attack. Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have both pressured China to lower their ambition to attack Taiwan and also put pressure on them with sanctions and other consequences of immediate actions from the United States.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the Biden administration, said that China would be making a wrong decision if they were to attack Taiwan. Blinken has warned the Chinese government that such an attack from them against Taiwan could lead to some very dire consequences in the process. “That would be a potentially disastrous decision,” Blinken said. Blinken also specified that Washington has the resolution to assist Taiwan with the necessary military aid to defend itself from China.