U.S.-China Relations in the Post-Normalization Era, 1979-1985

Abstract

THE SINo-AMERICAN joint communique of December 15, 1978 marked important turning point in Sino-American relations. With the simultaneous announcement of the agreement by President Jimmy Carter in Washington and Premier Hua Guofeng in Beijing, the two nations ended nearly three decades of abnormal with each other. As the American government was announcing the beginning of official relations with the People's Republic of China, however, it was taking the steps necessary for terminating its mutual defense pact with Taipei. To be sure, the joint communique did not resolve decades of disagreement. Several outstanding bilateral issues remained, the most awkward of which centered on Taiwan. Although Beijing was willing to accept the United States and Taiwan (as first set forth in the 'Japan formula),' it refused to accommodate the American desire to continue selling arms to Taipei following the termination of the U.S.-Taiwan defense pact on December 31, 1979. That raised what Beijing termed an important question of principle.2 In light of China's refusal to renounce clearly and openly the use of force in settling the Taiwan issue, however, the U.S. adamantly insisted on its right to sell select arms to Taipei. Thus, the two nations reached no agreement on this thorny issue. Instead, in normalizing the bilateral diplomatic relationship effective January 1, 1979, they merely deferred their differences on continued U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.3 Consequently, the Taiwan issue remained alive to plague SinoAmerican relations after 1979. Complicating this situation was the enactment by the U.S. Congress of the Taiwan Relations Act in the spring of 1979. That act, passed despite the reservations of the Carter