This presentation examines ongoing tensions in the Taiwan Strait by focusing on contestation surrounding the concept of the ‘status quo’. Whereas Beijing maintains its ‘One-China principle’, the United States maintains that the sovereignty of Taiwan remains undetermined, and the current government of Taiwan maintains that Taiwan is already an independent state called the ‘Republic of China (Taiwan)’. This presentation examines the legal and historical bases of these different interpretations. It also draws on the findings of the ‘American Portrait’ survey in Taiwan to explain how the Taiwanese public perceives the status quo and the strategic competition between Washington and Beijing.

James Lee (USA) is an Assistant Research Professor at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Research Division at the NATO Defense College and an Affiliated Researcher of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. His research interests are in U.S. foreign policy and the security of Taiwan. His work has been published in EurAmerica, Business and Politics, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of East Asian Studies, the Journal of Strategic Studies, and the Journal of Chinese Political Science. He received his PhD from Princeton University and has held research positions at the European University Institute in Florence; the University of California, San Diego; and the NATO Defense College in Rome.