Here’s why Taiwan has been important to the United States

China considers it a part of the Chinese nation. The United States considers it a roadblock to further Chinese influence in Asia. No wonder, then, that Taiwan has long been a point of contention between the superpowers. Although the US doesn’t officially recognise Taiwan as an independent country, it has played a major role in Taiwan’s security for decades. In the past, the US has sold weapons to Taiwan, and former President Joe Biden said the US would come to the defense of the island if China invades. But now, at a time when China is working to expand its presence, it seems the Trump administration might upend years of diplomacy in the area.

Here’s a look at how US support for Taiwan has ebbed and flowed throughout the decades and what’s at stake in the future.

Why does the US care about Taiwan? Though it’s geographically much closer to China — about 80 miles off its coast — Taiwan has geopolitical, technological and other strategic values to the US. As a self-governing democracy, Taiwan is seen as a bulwark against China’s growing clout in Asia. It is also one in a chain of islands in the Pacific that the US has said are essential to combating Chinese military expansion. A takeover of Taiwan would give China a strong foothold in the region, to the detriment of US allies like Japan, Australia and the Philippines. In addition, Taiwan is home to the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing; an attack on the island could trigger a complete disruption to the global tech supply chain.

Has the US ever recognised Taiwan as a country? Not exactly. After World War II and the departure of occupying Japanese troops, the US and its allies placed Taiwan under the governance of the Republic of China, which was ruled by the Kuomintang, also known as the Nationalist Party. At the time, China was convulsed by civil war. The defeated Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan in 1949, while the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland. The US continued to provide support for the Nationalist government in Taiwan.

When did US support start to change? Taiwan was an important part of the US fight against communism for years. However, as China’s power grew, the US started to rethink the relationship. Better Sino-American relations, the reasoning went, might be a way to counter the rise of the Soviet Union. President Richard Nixon made a historic visit to China in 1972, ending years of almost no contact between the two countries. Under President Carter, the US established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1979, paving the way for economic and political collaboration with Beijing. But that meant severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognising the Communist Party as the official government of China. The US also had to end a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan and withdraw its military personnel from the island.

Where did that leave Taiwan? Not everyone agreed with the decision to sever ties with the ruling government in Taiwan. To offer the island some protections, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979, which established non-diplomatic channels for engagement and ensured the US would continue to sell arms to Taiwan for self-defense.

With a series of other agreements, the US established its “one China” policy and promised not to formally recognise Taiwan as a sovereign nation.

Under this policy, also known as “strategic ambiguity,” the US would not say whether it would provide its military assistance to Taiwan in the case of war with China, but that it expects cross-strait relations to be resolved peacefully and that it opposes unilateral changes to the status quo.

Why is the relationship getting more tense now? As America’s relationship with China has soured over the last decade, it has deepened its relationship with Taiwan, looking for ways to cooperate on trade and security issues. In December, the US and Taiwan signed the first agreement in a new trade initiative. In August 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking US official to visit the capital of Taipei, a trip that Beijing vehemently opposed. And on several occasions, Biden said the US would defend Taiwan militarily if China attacked. The White House said each time after Biden’s comments that US policy on Taiwan had not changed. However, Beijing sees the strengthening partnership as a gradual shift away from the long-held “one China” policy. It has responded with more military drills and operations around Taiwan, ratcheting up concerns about a potential conflict.

How might that change further under Trump? While the US-Taiwan relationship has long been based on a set of carefully worded rules and quiet diplomacy, President Donald Trump’s style is seen as transactional, and his recent collision with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has alarmed many Taiwanese. Trump has demanded mineral rights in Ukraine for continued US support in its war with Russia. Regarding Taiwan, Trump has said that the island should pay the US for its protection and increase its defense spending from about 2.4% GDP to 10% GDP. He has also criticised Taiwan’s semiconductor industry for taking business away from the US and threatened to levy tariffs on Taiwanese chips. Such comments have raised speculation that continued US support could be contingent on meeting Trump’s demands.