Free Custom «Taiwan Is More Important to the USA's National Interest than China» Essay Paper

Introduction

International cooperation with highly developed countries has been the key strategy of the USA as it approved its status. The economic cooperation with Japan helped improve many fields of production and promoted both export and import. The international positions of both countries form 30 % of the world economy due to their bilateral cooperation. These states remain the economic leaders in terms of many investments as they have common cash flows (Cooper, 2013). Therefore, cooperation with other highly-developed countries remains a necessary strategy of the country.

Nowadays, Taiwan remains one of the four prosperous Asian countries along with Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. Although the country used to be part of mainland China, it was functioning as an independent state after the World War II; mainland China still makes claims for the territory. Its highly developed industry and firm market position enabled the country to participate in the important international relations as an independent state.

Nevertheless, China remains a long-term partner of the US. The states exchange the imported and exported production in many fields. Besides, the US has earned a more stable cost-effective status on the international market than PRC. That is why the continuation of the partnership between the countries is among the priorities of China.

The political and historical background has worsened American-Chinese cooperation (Lieberthal & Jisi 2012). After the Cold War and Chinese Communist regime, American hegemony has become a reason of China’s dissatisfaction with its position. On the other hand, Taiwan’s desire to separate itself from the mainland China received support in the US. Such geopolitical position along with efficient results in terms of Taiwan’s development provided the background for American-Taiwanese cooperation as it enabled both countries to receive high profits and approve their international position.

Methodology

The methods applied in the research paper include comparing and contrasting the economical and geopolitical peculiarities of China and Taiwan and their cooperation with the US. Generalization and systematization of the information learned will allow proving the preference of China or Taiwan as a strategic partner of the USA. Analytical and synthetic methods help consider the data in terms of the study of profitable tendencies, as well as combine information and draw the necessary conclusions. Ten studies under consideration covered the political conditions of 1999-2015 and key factors that influenced the existing situation in both economics and politics. The scientific studies include three online sources, seven books and one peer reviewed online journal article. 

The field of the study covered the geopolitical status of Taiwan-US, China-US and Japan-US cooperation. Although the role of Japan as an important cooperator of the United States has approved its vitality, the meaning of China and Taiwan remains controversial.

The analyzed papers consider both industrial and political sides of American-Asian interaction. The synergy of these factors determines the necessity and preferences of this or that partnership. The energy-saving sources and their role in Chinese-American collaboration provide extended perspectives for PRC as a potential partner of America.

The analysis and comparison of the statistical indices concerning different countries will provide a better understanding of cooperation perspectives. 

Literature Review: The Political and Military Problems as the Key Difficulties in Establishing the Profound Economical Cooperation

The issue of American-Asian cooperation represents an essential issue for scientific and economical study. There are many works dedicated to this problem. Analysts present the cooperation of America with China and Taiwan through the interconnection of military and political spheres. The influence of the latter plays the major role in the formation of the economical interaction (Atanassova-Cornelis & van der Putten, 2014, Blanchard & Shen, 2015, Shutter, 2013, Lieberthal & Jisi, 2012; Michaud, Buccino, & Chenelle, 2014). Due to many problems dealing with the political interests and the ways of development, PRC proved to be less preferable (Zhao, 1999; Lieberthal & Jisi, 2012).

According to Zhao (1999), the reason for Taiwanese-Chinese relations and their competitiveness in the partnership with the US lies in the missile exercises held by PRC in Taiwan during 1995-1996. The investigators characterize this event as a military crisis of 1995-1996. Besides, sending two aircrafts by the US for monitoring Chinese military actions provoked a negative reaction of China towards the country. Although this conflict did not end up with a war, all the three sides still find it difficult to build up loyal international cooperation (Zhao, 1999). Independent economical position is preferable for avoiding further development of the conflicts.

Historically, the separation of Taiwan from the mainland China began during the Civil War in 1949 when the Communist party (CCP) gained victory over the Nationalist one known as Kuomintang (KMT). After the crisis that lasted for the following two decades, PRC accepted the strategy of “peaceful offence”. The strengthening of cultural-economical ties followed after the above-mentioned events. Chinese business people invested into the economical areas of the mainland of the country (Zhao, 1999). 

Nevertheless, some studies indicate a positive feedback in terms of Washington-Beijing cooperation. Blanchard and Shen (2015) confirm that the US and China has reached effective solutions in cooperation in some spheres. In spite of a less stable economical position, the latter has managed to reach success. Yet, Hickey and Lu distinguish the Taiwanese question as a principle obstacle in reaching the satisfaction of mutual interests for both countries (as cited in Blanchard & Shen, 2015, p. 91).

Shutter (2013) exemplifies the recent development of the countries and the competitive struggle between the US, China and Taiwan aimed at attaining the Asian-Pacific hegemony. The recent development of the sides shows effective possibilities to acquire a stable international status. The way of proving the sustainability and stability represents a reasonable attempt to regulate the conflict and provide all-sided interaction between the countries (Shutter, 2013).

Environmental issues and oil production remain preferable and profitable fields of Taiwan-American cooperation. According to predictions of the researchers, the latter field promises that the US will have become a principal oil exporter by 2030. Taking into account global security imperatives, the country’s policy is likely to create “the leverage” due to its cooperation with island China to secure the maritime territories (Michaud et al., 2014). On the other hand, creating wind and solar power sets is preferable for the Chinese interests as America is able to offer better environmentally-friendly technologies. On the other hand, the application of energy saving sources takes place in Shanghai as one of the highly populated megapolices in the world (Wallace, Kurz, & Lin, 2012).

Therefore, the investigators support the positions in favor and against the American-Chinese cooperation. Taiwan and America have remained stable economic and strategic partners for many years. Still the growing role of mainland China and its military and political conflict is likely to facilitate difficulties in its cooperation with the US leading to the intrusion into Taiwan-American collaboration.

Results and Discussion: The Fields of Taiwanese-American Cooperation

During the Cold War and after the World War II, China and America were the competitors in terms of ideology and politics. America was a democratic and powerful country among the winners in the war, whereas China was a Japanese ally, and after the capitulation it experienced tremendous losses. After the Communist regime, Taiwan decided to separate from the mainland country as its ideology contradicted Taiwan’s interests (Zhao, 1999, Shutter, 2013, Blanchard & Shen, 2015).

The ways of US-Taiwan cooperation cover energy sources, military sphere and IT. The lack of natural resources and the absence of de jure proclamation of Taiwan’s separation from mainland China are the key factors that drew significant attention of the countries to the mentioned spheres.

In a few years Taiwan has reached a high level of development and became the member of many international organizations. In spite of a less significant political role since 1979, the country entered Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 1991 and approved its position in many international organizations (Moon, n.d.). 

Economic stability and quick tempo of development during 1990-2010 characterizes Taiwan as an economically strong state. Its citizens enjoy a liberal visa regime provided by other APEC countries. They are able to travel to many of them freely. It is more so as the embassies provide vide free-initial travels (Kan & Morrison, 2014). Such tendencies are peculiar for Taiwan due to its island location. After the Civil War, the Chinese government moved to Taiwan Island and separated from the mainland. The country was rather poor, but its cooperation directed policy, and involvement of foreign capital investments helped in its transforming from agricultural to industrial country.

Taiwan has few natural resources and about 90% of its production is comprised of the imported raw materials and goods (Winckler, n.d.). About 98% of fuel materials form the American import because of lack of domestic energy resources. Therefore, an important priority of the country is both creating energy saving sources and establishing profound partnership with the US.

Populated with 23 million inhabitants, Taiwan has reached high indices that affirm its powerful and competitive international status. Particularly, the country’s GDP on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis equaled $929 billion. Such incomes awarded Taiwan the 18^th position in terms of the level of economic development after Australia. Taiwan’s GDP per capita was $39,700 larger than Japanese and South Korean one (Kan & Morrison, 2014).

On its part, the US has been investing into Taiwanese economy since 1950 (Kan & Morrison, 2014). Rapid development has approved the country as a stable and reliable partner of the USA. That is why the country goes on investing in Taiwan and importing its oil into the country. The policy towards extradition treaty and guarantees of the safety of human rights of the Taiwanese is another proof of it (Michaud et al., 2014).

IT production in Taiwan has reached a high level. Although software and different kinds of ICT appliances are in great demand in PRC (about 83%), many international issues of journals and economical magazines form a considerable share of Taiwanese production on the world market. Its several firms are among the primary competitors on the ICT world market (Kan & Morrison, 2014).

The military cooperation between Taiwan and the US is an issue of concern. Although the supply of weapons is profitable for America and approves its hegemonic international position, it is complicated for Taiwan to retain a diplomatic position with mainland China and America. Still, the US protection policies are recognized and support democratic views of Taiwan.

Conclusion

Taiwanese-American international cooperation is an important question for both countries. The partners have enjoyed profound bilateral cooperation for many years in both economical and political spheres. America’s import helps the country to provide a desirable amount of energy sources. Still, Taiwan is working on energy-saving technologies to reduce expenses for oil resources. Such issues usually take many years to achieve the estimated indices and transfer Taiwan’s investments into other industries.

Military sphere of cooperation remains disputable because of the increase of the conflict with mainland China. As both Taiwan and PRC participate in APEC, it is necessary to made satisfactory decisions for pertaining stable political and economical environment. Still, American-Taiwanese interaction remains more reliable than Washington-Beijing cooperation due to a higher level of economic development of Taiwan.

For this reason, IT production may become a disputable question for Taiwan. As many ICT firms are located in mainland China, its sphere of economic influence helps approve the position of Taiwan in the political sphere.