Taiwan-China Conflict and Resolution - Research Paper Example

China was fragment after the fall of Qing dynasty and civil war followed (Myers 1) in 1915. In this condition, the political party that gave birth to Taiwan, the Guomindang or GMD was formed and so was the ruling party in China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These two political parties however begun as allies in Southeast China in their effort to crush the warlords in 1923 that caused the civil war in China. The alliance however was short lived because it collapsed within four years and the two political parties became bitter enemies that precipitated another civil war.

GMD’s generals pledge loyalty to its new leader Chiang Kai­shek and formed a new Republic of China in Nanjing and later formed a new ROC government in Nanjing in 1927 (Myers 1). Chiang Kai­shek had the upper hand over the CCP in 1937 as Chiang Kai­shek army drove the Communists into the Northwest region of China. Japan however attacked China in July 1937 to make Chiang Kai­shek ROC a client state of Japan. The attack was thwarted because Taiwan and China again forged an alliance to defeat Japan.

This alliance lasted for eight years until Japan was defeated in August 15, 1945. During this time, Chiang Kai­shek also allied with the United States which lasted until 1949. China on the other is building up its forces beginning in the Autumn of 1945 when it begun amassing weapons from the Russians in Manchuria. It also initiated land reform in the countryside as a precursor to Maoist strategy of encircling cities by cutting them off from the countryside. The strategy coupled with superior weapons proved to be effective in defeating Chiang Kai­shek’s forces and advanced further towards Northern China until finally, CPP soldiers captured Beijing on January 31, 1949.

Months later, Mao declared the founding of the new Chinese state in October 1, 1949 which is the People's Republic of China (13). Chiang Kai-shek on the other hand retreated to Formosa which is now Taiwan to seek refuge from Mao’s advancing armies (Ford 36) which it still continue to occupy until this day. II. Description of the various conflict management techniques used, the third parties that were active in attempts to resolve the conflict, and the outcomes of these conflict management efforts.

Efforts however were made to reconcile Taiwan and China after Mao’s declaration of People's Republic of China or PROC as we know it today. On April 27, 1993, China and Taiwan begun negotiating the various Interpretations of Taiwan’s relationship to China, or the "one­China" principle” (Myers 1). The negotiation however was conducted and represented by third party private agencies. Taiwan was represented by Straits Exchange Foundation or SEF while China was represented Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait, or ARATS.

The negotiation however was short lived and collapse when President Lee Teng­hui visited the US for a public address at Cornell University (Myers 1). The technique used in the attempt to resolve the conflict was negotiation by third parties composed of private NGOs. The negotiation however did not prosper because no confidence building measure was initiated by both parties. The negotiation finally collapsed when Taiwan’s President Lee Teng­hui antagonized the Chinese by a visit to the Communist ideological nemesis, the US.