Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
TRA at 40: Shirley Kan discusses the enduring importance of America's Taiwan Relations Act
Shirley Kan is an independent specialist in Asian security affairs and a Retired Specialist in Asian Security Affairs for the U.S. Congress at the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS).
January 24, 2019
Enacted in 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act followed the decision of President Jimmy Carter to recognize the People's Republic of China and to break formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The act is to "To help maintain peace, security, and stability in the Western Pacific and to promote the foreign policy of the United States by authorizing the continuation of commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan, and for other purposes." Among its provisions are a statement that the use of coercive means to determine the future of Taiwan would be considered a threat to the peace and stability of the region and "of grave concern" of the U.S. It authorizes the sale of weapons of a defensive character to Taiwan.
In this video, Shirley Kan discusses what the TRA is and how it has functioned. She explains why it is important to the United States and to peace in East Asia.
For a quarter century, Shirley Kan served in the United States government, most prominently as a specialist in security affairs at the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, a branch of the U.S. Library of Congress. Now an independent analyst, Kan has published articles in the National Bureau of Asian Research and in the Global Taiwan Institute Brief. This interview was recorded following a roundtable conversation she had on January 17, 2019 at the USC U.S.-China Institute.
USCI documents collection:
"Taiwan Relations Act," adopted April 1979
"Evaluating U.S. Policy on the Taiwan on the 35th Anniversary of the TRA," a speech by then Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, April 2014
"A Strong and Moderate Taiwan," a speech by then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Thomas Christensen, September 2007
"U.S.-Taiwan Relations, 2003," a speech by then Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Shriver (currently Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs), February 2003
Some of Ms. Kan's previous work:
Taiwan’s Defense and Prospects for US-Taiwan Security Cooperation, Oct. 2018
Midterm Assessment of the Tsai Administration: 10 Ways to Strengthen Overall Defense, June 2018
She wrote this for the National Bureau of Asian Research:
Congressional Support for Taiwan’s Defense, May 2018
Some of her CRS reports
China and weapons proliferation, 2015
US-China military contacts, 2014
Security implications of the 2008 Taiwan election
US-China counter terrorism cooperation, 2006
China – suspected acquisition of nuclear weapons secrets, 2006
Featured Articles
October 20, 2024
October 20, 2024
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 3:00pm
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 - 4:00pm
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.