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View all search resultsWhy the US will never abandon Taiwan
Abandoning Taiwan would undermine US interests, alienate allies, embolden China and unravel the Indo-Pacific balance.
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A spat affects tourism: Members of a Chinese tour group cross a road in the Ginza shopping district on Monday in Tokyo. Japanese tourism and retail shares dived on Monday, Nov. 17, after China warned its citizens to avoid the tourist hot spot in a spat over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. (AFP/Greg Baker)
F
or decades, analysts have speculated whether the United States might one day “walk away” from Taiwan, especially as China’s power grows. But such speculation misunderstands the full arc of US policy.
From 1971 to 2026, Washington has repeatedly demonstrated that even when recognizing Beijing diplomatically, it has never relinquished its commitments to Taiwan’s security, autonomy and survival. The passage of the Taiwan Reassurance Act 2026 only reaffirms this longstanding reality.
To understand why, one must revisit the diplomatic turning points that shaped US–Taiwan policy.
When the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 1971 Resolution 2758, transferring China’s seat from Taipei to Beijing, many believed Taiwan’s international future was doomed. Washington supported the vote, yet the shift did not erase Taiwan from US strategic thinking.
The following year, President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China produced the Shanghai Communiqué (1972), where the US “acknowledged”, but did not accept, Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China.
This distinction was intentional. From that moment onward, US policy rested on strategic ambiguity: recognizing Beijing while refusing to endorse its claim over Taiwan.
When full normalization occurred in 1978, with Washington recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, the US again reaffirmed that Taiwan’s future must be determined peacefully.
