Miles Yi, the Director of the Hudson Institute's China Center, said the negotiations made by former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1972 called the Shanghai Communiqué only acknowledged China’s One China Policy, it “never said if we agree with it or not.”

“The words negotiated and insisted upon by Henry Kissinger,” Yu said on a recent edition of the China Insider Podcast. “is that the United States acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China, and People’s Republic of China is the sole representer of that, and Taiwan is part of China.”

“So the key phrase here is ‘acknowledges the Chinese position,’” Yu said. “Acknowledgement basically means, in this context, we are aware of this, that China holds such a view, but we never said if we agree with it or not.”

The Taiwan Relations Act was signed into law in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, and has since guided U.S. relations with Taiwan since the recognition of the People’s Republic of China. The Act was preceded by the Three Communiqués, the first of which was negotiated in 1972, and the Six Assurances, which were made by President Reagan to Taiwan in 1982. 

China Insider podcast is hosted by Miles Yu. The weekly show is produced by the Hudson Institute's China Center and addresses issues involving China as well as providing commentary on recent news.

The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.