Cross-strait relations

September 2, 2005 - Cross-strait relations (sometimes ... or PRC–ROC relations) are the political and economic relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China, or PRC) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, or ROC) across the Taiwan Strait....

Most significant among the accords is the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement concluded in June 2010, which aims to institutionalize trade and economic relations between Taiwan and China.

Beijing’s tactics have included suspending official and semiofficial mechanisms for cross-strait communications, reducing the number of mainland tourists allowed to visit Taiwan, pressuring countries that recognize Taiwan to sever diplomatic ...

The United States acknowledged that all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of that China. In addition, the United States asserted its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.

But from another point of view, the extremely close economic and trade relations across the Taiwan Strait mean that the Mainland’s economic rise has had a greater impact on Taiwan than on any other country. In 2007, cross-strait trade amounted to US$130.2 billion, which accounted for 27.9% of our total foreign trade and made the Mainland our primary trade partner. Mainland China was our largest export market, accounting for 40.7% of our total exports, worth US$100.4 billion.

NOTE TO READERS “Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations” has been retired and is no longer maintained. For more information, please see the full notice. Tensions between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) in the 1950s resulted in armed conflict over strategic islands in the Taiwan Strait.

August 19, 2025 - The Taiwan and Cross-Strait Relations project works to understand what drives each party and contribute to thinking that can lead toward lasting peace, away from the brink of disaster.

Our staff leads an annual delegation to Taiwan and Mainland China to explore and analyze various policy-relevant topics including, cross-Strait confidence building measures, Taiwan’s participation in the international community, Taiwan’s elections, US-Taiwan relations, Taiwan’s maritime policies, and cross-Strait relations.

September 11, 2025 - In his book "History of Cross-Strait Relations," Professor Zhang Chunying, deputy director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, divides the history of cross-strait relations into four periods: the first stage is from the prehistoric period to the Dutch occupation of Taiwan in the 1620s; the second stage is the period from the Dutch, Ming Zheng, Qing, and Japanese rule of Taiwan, to the takeover of Taiwan by the Republic of China in 1945; the third stage is the cross-strait military confrontation formed after the withdrawal of the central government of the Republic of China from mainland China in 1949; the fourth stage is the end of the military confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the 1980s and the de-escalation and development of relations.

1. Taiwan is an old story for international law scholars, and a notoriously tricky one. Cross-Strait relations refer to the turbulent relationship that has existed between mainland China and Taiwan...

November 6, 2025 - Cross-Strait relations, the complex ties across the Taiwan Strait between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, ROC), have remained tense since Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) assumed the presidency in May 2024.

Cross-strait relations refer to the political, economic, and social interactions between mainland China and Taiwan. This complex relationship has evolved over the years, with tensions stemming from Taiwan's political status and China's insistence on its sovereignty over the island.

October 19, 2025 - While Washington was largely distracted by other issues, most stemming from intractable situations in the Middle East, cross-strait relations enjoyed a period of renaissance, which is worth briefly exploring. The period of calm in the China-Taiwan relationship reached its culmination in November 2015, when the two respective leaderships held a historic first face-to-face meeting in Singapore.

September 26, 2022 - The core of the cross-Taiwan Strait rivalry since 1949 is the two sides’ ultimate political relations, known as the “one China” issue. Before the 1970s, China and Taiwan had threatened and used force against each other in this dispute.

Geographic note: the Taiwan Strait, a body of water hat is approximately 110 miles wide at its widest point, separates the island of Taiwan from the mainland of China. As a result, relations between China and Taiwan are often referred to a "cross-Strait relations."

January 30, 2023 - Cross-strait relations have always had a major impact on the overall security architecture of East Asia. China considers the island nation of Taiwan to be a renegade province, which is an integral part of China.

Surprisingly, “one country, two systems” was referenced by several Chinese in talking about cross- Strait relations. Even under Ma, Taiwan had made it clear that this model, as applied in Hong · Kong, would be totally unacceptable to the people of Taiwan. Its use today seems aimed at · “inviting Taiwan into China’s national development strategy,” which includes “creating more

But perhaps Chinese decision makers ... concern: Taiwan. ... Since the Kuomintang Party’s Ma Ying-jeou won election in 2008, Beijing–Taipei relations have markedly improved. Ma has been far less an irritant for China than his two predecessors (Lee Tenghui and Chen Shuibian). The signing of the Economic Cooperation and Framework Agreement and its passage through the Legislative Yuan in 2010 seemed to presage even better cross-straits relations ...

September 24, 2012 - The term ‘cross-straits relations’ refers to the intersecting political, military, economic, cultural and social relationships between Taiwan and mainland China. Cross-straits relations (liang’an guanxi 兩岸關係) have evolved in complex ...

5 days ago - In the 21st century, the Cross-Strait relations stabilized, leading to the establishment of Three Links on 15 December 2008, with the commencement of direct commercial flights, shipping, and post ...