Nancy Pelosi, the US House of Representatives Speaker, finally landed in Taiwan on Tuesday after months of speculation about whether the trip would go ahead or not. Pelosi’s visit to Taipei marks the first time in decades that a senior US leader has visited the self-governing Island.

In response, China has blamed the US for being needlessly ‘provocative’ and accusing the country of ‘playing with fire’. The world’s second-largest economy has already lodged a formal complaint with the US Ambassador to China, announced six live-fire military drills in areas surrounding the island, imposed trade sanctions on Taiwanese food and electronics, and upped the rhetoric surrounding the visit.

But the US on its part maintains that its policy towards China and Taiwan has not changed. Pelosi has stated that the visit was a routine Congressional visit, much like the one seen by several senators to Taiwan earlier in the year.

“Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, US-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances. The United States continues to oppose unilateral efforts to change the status quo,” read a statement from Pelosi and her delegation.

However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in response to the visit has stated that Pelosi’s presence on the island was a "serious violation of the One China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques.” The statement added that the visit “sent a seriously wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”

While the White House also maintains its adherence to the One China policy, it has not done much to convince the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“We are clear that nothing has changed about our One China policy which is guided by Taiwan Relations Act. We do not support Taiwan's independence," said US National Security coordinator John Kirby.

What is the One China Policy?

The One China Policy refers to the strategic ambiguity used by the US to have formal diplomatic relations with China, or the People’s Republic of China (PRC), while still maintaining significant informal relations with Taiwan, officially the Republic of China.

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In 1949, at the end of the Chinese civil war, Mao Zedong’s communist forces ousted Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC). The defeated ROC forces escaped to Taiwan where they established their government. A communist invasion of Taiwan was prevented by the threat of US intervention which didn’t wish to see the island fall. But despite that, no armistice or peace treaty was ever signed between the two countries. China considers Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and Taiwan considers itself essentially independent.

The PRC’s view of there being only one legitimate government of China, only one sovereign nation with the name of China, and that Taiwan is part of China is known as the One China Principle. Under the principle, the PRC is also opposed to the idea that any legitimate nation holds the name of China but also opposes the idea of Taiwanese independence in any form or shape.

While the ROC recognised the One China principle in 1992, it still officially (constitutionally) claims the territory of the preceding Chinese state, the Qing Empire. These territories include mainland China, Mongolia, and even parts of Afghanistan and other swathes of land. Opinion in Taiwan is divided over the One China Principle, with one camp only recognising the ROC as the legitimate government of China but supporting an eventual unification while the other camp denounces any claims to China but wants Taiwan to be formally independent.

What do other countries think?

When the ROC was defeated, the world at large didn’t recognise the PRC officially immediately. It was only in 1972 as part of the Three Communiqué that the US officially ‘acknowledged’ the PRC and ROC’s official position of there being only one China and the PRC being “the sole legal Government of China.” However, under the policy, the US did not reaffirm the PRC’s territorial claim on Taiwan itself while also not promoting Taiwanese independence. This strategic ambiguity allowed the US to legally recognise the PRC in 1979 under the Jimmy Carter administration at a time when China was opening up economically and socially. The US then passed the Taiwan Relations Act to still maintain all informal relations with Taiwan.

One of the requirements for any political entity to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC is for them to not legally recognise the ROC. As a result, only 15 countries today recognise the ROC. These include Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland and Tuvalu. Even international inter-governmental organisations like the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation don’t officially recognise the ROC.

India, which was one of the first non-communist countries to recognise Zedong’s PRC in 1950, has also stuck by the One China policy. However, for India the One China Policy doesn’t just govern Taiwan but also Tibet. While India doesn’t recognise Taiwan or any Tibetan authority as independent of China, there has been a clamour for India to revisit its stance over China’s continuing aggression at Indian borders.

Lobsang Sangay, the Sikyong (President) of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGiE) and Tien Chung-kwang, the former ROC Representative to India, attending the 2014 swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted shifting winds in recent years. The government has also not officially reaffirmed the One China policy in its communique since 2010.

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(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)