What the ‘One China’ principle means for future of Taiwan

The policy has cast the government in Taipei out into the diplomatic wilderness

Taiwanese people wave their national flag during celebrations in capital Taipei to commemorate the foundation of the Republic of China
Taiwanese people wave their national flag during celebrations in capital Taipei to commemorate the foundation of the Republic of China
(Image credit: Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Colin Alexander of Nottingham Trent University on why mounting tensions over Taiwan’s sovereignty claims have left Washington in a tricky position

The tense triangular relationship between the US, China and Taiwan has emerged once again amid escalating military tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The status of the small, densely populated island off the southeast coast of the Chinese mainland is hotly contested and there are almost daily news reports predicting that a newly assertive China may soon take action – military or otherwise – to forcibly reincorporate Taiwan. We have been here before, though, and to see such action as inevitable would be misguided.

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