Current United States policy towards the People's Republic of China and Taiwan is the culmination of nearly three decades of trilateral diplomatic activity and is based, ostensibly, upon four policy documents. These cornerstones of Sino-American relations are the Joint U.S.-China Communiqu of Shanghai, China, issued on February 27, 1972 ; the Joint Communiqu on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China, issued on January 1, 1979 ; United States Public Law 96-8, known as the Taiwan Relations Act, approved April 10, 1979 ; and the U.S.-China Joint Communiqu, issued August 17, 1982 .In light of recent Presidential elections in Taiwan, which, based upon the campaign rhetoric of the prevailing party, would seem to put Taiwan on a much more direct course towards declaring outright independence as a sovereign state, distinct and apart from mainland China, the assignment of this reviewer is to determine if revision of the United States' one China policy is warranted or in fact legal under international law.In order to accomplish this analysis, it is necessary to clearly understand the evolution of the underlying doctrines of Sino-American relations cited above and how the Taiwanese elections affect continued observance of these tenets. Sino-American Relations - the EvolutionAt the beginning of the 1970's, the United States, perhaps with the aim of widening the Sino-Soviet schism that had developed between the two countries, began to pursue a policy aimed at recognizing the communist People's Republic of China as the legitimate government of China .A series of dialogues between the United States and the People's Republic of China at the lower echelons of the diplomatic hierarchy gradually escalated, culminating in President Nixon's February 1972 trip to China.To be sure, President Nixon unequivocally prefaced that this excursion to mainland China should not be construed by the international...
