One of the most complicated issues in contemporary international relations is the status of the self-governing island of Taiwan and its government in Taipei, formally called the government of the Republic of China. Is Taiwan a sovereign state? What is the legal relationship between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China? Is United Nations membership essential for statehood? How should other states engage with Taiwan? How much of US support for Taiwan is grounded in law and how much in policy? Does international law recognize Taiwan’s right of self-defense or the right of its friends to come to its aid?

Over the coming months, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute will host a series of speakers to address these questions from different perspectives. The first speaker will be Richard Bush, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Bush led US engagement with Taiwan from 1997 to 2002 as chairman and managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the mechanism through which the US government conducts substantive relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic relations. Bush will explain the genesis and meaning of the Taiwan Relations Act, a 1979 domestic law that is frequently referenced but apparently not often read. Bush has consistently explained that the TRA is not the functional equivalent of a defense treaty. As we mark 45 years since the TRA’s passage, he will explain how it was drafted and why it matters despite saying “less than meets the eye.” Learn more.