One of the most complicated topics 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. In this Nov. 7, 2024 talk, Peter Dutton, a senior research scholar at the Paul Tsai Center at Yale Law School, explains the US view that title to the territory of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands did not revert to China after World War II, and remains “undetermined” in international law. The ROC, he says, is a self-declared state on territory whose status is ambiguous.
Talking Points: What Does ROC Law Say About Taiwan?
One of the most complicated topics 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. During the 2024-2025 academic year, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute began inviting speakers to talk about Taiwan’s legal status from various perspectives. In this April 3, 2025 talk, Yu-Jie Chen, an assistant research professor at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae of Academia Sinica, explains how Taiwan defines itself in its own constitution, and how its “constitutional order” has evolved beyond the text of the constitution.
Talking Points: What Does US Law Say About Taiwan?
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. During the 2024-2025 academic year, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute hosted a series of speakers to address Taiwan’s status. We began with a talk by Richard Bush, a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution who led US engagement with Taiwan from 1997 to 2002 as chairman and managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan. In his October 30, 2024 online talk at NYU Law, Bush explains the genesis and significance of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.