Explained | Relations between Taiwan and the United States

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that Taiwan should pay the United States for its defence as it does not give the country anything.

Taipei: Taiwan should pay the United States for its defence as it does not give the country anything, US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Here are some facts on the relationship between Taiwan and the United States:

History and current state of defence ties

During the height of the Cold War, Taiwan hosted US military bases and the two had a Mutual Defence Treaty. In 1979, the United States severed official relations with the government in Taipei and instead recognised the government in Beijing. The defence treaty was terminated too.

Post-1979, the US relationship with Taiwan has been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, which gives a legal basis to provide the Chinese-claimed island with the means to defend itself but does not mandate that the US come to Taiwan's aid if attacked.

While the United States has long followed a policy of "strategic ambiguity" on whether and under what circumstances it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, US President Joe Biden has said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan.

The US does maintain some military personnel in Taiwan for training purposes, and Taiwan sends its F-16 pilots to be trained at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

Senior Taiwan defence officials also visit the United States, and intelligence sharing takes place too.

The US retains a large de facto embassy in Taipei called the American Institute in Taiwan, staffed by diplomats. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office is the name of Taiwan's de facto embassy in the United States.

Does Taiwan pay for US military protection?

US treaty allies Japan and South Korea shoulder much of the cost of hosting US military bases in Asia under pre-existing arrangements. Given there are no longer US bases in Taiwan nor any defence treaty, there is no such arrangement for the island.

Taiwan does however spend big on US weapons - it currently has a backlog worth some $19 billion of arms deliveries from the United States.

What were ties like under the first Trump presidency?

In a word - excellent Trump and then-President Tsai Ing-wen spoke by telephone shortly after he won election in 2016, drawing Beijing's ire, the first such high contact since 1979.

The Trump administration sent senior officials to Taiwan, including then-Health Secretary Alex Azar, the highest-level US official to go to the democratic island in four decades, and continued to sell it weapons.

China placed sanctions on Mike Pompeo when he left office as secretary of state at the end of the Trump presidency, angered by his repeated criticism of the country, especially its ruling Communist Party, and his open support for Taiwan.

Does Taiwan have bipartisan US support?

US politicians like to stress that Taiwan is a rare issue that enjoys bipartisan support, a point also made by Taiwanese officials, and Taiwan has continued to receive bipartisan visits by US lawmakers and former Trump appointees.

In April, the US Congress had passed a sweeping foreign aid package which includes arms support for the island, after House Republican leaders abruptly switched course and allowed a vote on the $95 billion in mostly military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and US partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Both Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party and main opposition party the Kuomintang have observer delegations at the on-going Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

What about trade and economic relations?

As of the end of 2023, Taiwan was the United States 10th largest export market, worth $40 billion, and eighth largest source of imports, worth $88 billion.

While Taiwan was in 2022 excluded from the Biden administration's Asia-focused economic plan designed to counter China's growing influence, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or IPEF, Washington instead began talks with Taiwan under the "21st Century" trade initiative.

Taiwan investment in the US is dominated by chipmaker TSMC's mammoth $65 billion plan to build three factories in Arizona, for which the US government is providing a $6.6 billion subsidy and up to $5 billion in low-cost government loans.