Ma calls TRA a positive force in U.S.-Taiwan-China ties

The TRA has served to anchor peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for the past three decades and made Taiwan an indispensable link for foreign investments in the Asian region, Ma said in a speech delivered at the opening of an international conference on the TRA and its prospects on its 30th anniversary.

“Its very existence changed the evolutionary course of cross-strait development by stabilizing the trilateral relationship among Taiwan, the U.S. and mainland China,” he said.

Calling the act as the “second best choice” in an imperfect world, the president said the TRA has served to accommodate Taiwan's needs by keeping all aspects of U.S.-Taiwan relations intact despite Washington's switching of diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China (ROC) to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1979.

Ma pointed out the TRA has the identical initial of the nation's Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), enabling the triangular U.S.-Taiwan-China relations to progress forward on the right track smoothly at a rapid pace.

“This resilience, or dynamic status quo, is of crucial importance for peace and stability for East Asia,” Ma said.

Enacted by the U.S. Congress April 10, 1979, the TRA has been the sole legal document on the U.S. side governing bilateral relations.

The act requires the U.S. to guarantee defensive arms sales to Taiwan and to maintain the capacity of the U.S. to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan.

Ma said that his administration's continuous efforts to improve relations with Beijing since last May have not only put an end to bilateral diplomatic belligerency in favor of substantive economic cooperation, but also demonstrated to the world that Taiwan wants to be a responsible peacemaker instead of troublemaker in the region.

With the resilience of the TRA and the ever-warming relations with China, especially on the economic front, Ma said this new equilibrium will create a “win-win-win” situation for the U.S., Taiwan, and China to solve complex issues through cooperation.

As part of the activities marking the 30th anniversary of the passage of the TRA, the conference was held by the National Policy Foundation and the Cross-Strait Interflow Prospect Foundation.

Serving U.S. Interests

The U.S. domestic law still serves the interests of the United States in Taiwan, despite the many political, economic, and strategic changes that have occurred, said Douglas Paal, former director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

“The instrument of the TRA, accompanied by confidence in the wisdom of the people of Taiwan expressed through ballot box democracy, is a source of reassurance for both America and Taiwan going forward,” he added.

According to Paal, U.S. calculations have changed enormously since 1979, because politically, the U.S. sense of Taiwan as a plucky, stalwart outpost of freedom against tyranny has eroded, while economically, China's trade with Taiwan and the U.S. has grown significantly from 1979 levels.

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