resolution

United States-China Political Relations

2016 Book of Resolutions, #6051

Our Political Understandings

In late 1978, the governments of the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) reached agreement establishing full diplomatic relations. The United States ended official relations—diplomatic and military—with the authorities on Taiwan. The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China as the “sole legal government of China” but reserved the right, over PRC objections, to sell “defensive” weapons to Taiwan. At the time of normalization, the PRC refused to rule out the possibility of reunifying with the island of Taiwan by force but offered to allow Taiwan to maintain the political, economic, and military status quo if Taiwan were to recognize PRC sovereignty.

This normalization agreement ended a thirty-year period in which formal American commitments to the authorities on Taiwan blocked closer relations with the People’s Republic of China. It laid the foundations for a framework of cooperation and exchanges that continues to develop. Highlights include:

government-to-government agreements covering consular relations and embassies, civil aviation, scientific and technical cooperation, educational exchange, trade and credit, fisheries, and a wide range of other fields;
extensive private and government economic and technological investments;
substantial expansion of tourism and specialized visits;
educational programs facilitating tens of thousands of scholars and teachers resident in the other country;
numerous governmental and private institutional exchange agreements in education, the fine and performing arts, cinema, publishing, and so forth;
state-province and city-to-city agreements calling for various kinds of cooperation; and
extensive cooperation on international platforms relating to economic, health, environmental concerns, and so forth.

The rapid growth and elaboration of these bilateral relations has been a positive indicator of a maturing relationship between the United States and the PRC that has become multi-dimensional and interdependent. Yet, because the PRC and US systems are so different, misperceptions and misunderstandings are all too common on both sides, even on basic principles.

Recommendations on US-China Political Relations

The United Methodist Church:

recognizes the necessity for China to continue sustained economic and social development and urges US cooperation to that end within the context of peace and stability;
feels the long-term basis of US-China relations should emphasize people-to-people, educational, social, and responsible economic and technological development, including the adoption of clean energy initiatives;
opposes the sale of US military equipment to the PRC;
endorses a peaceful approach to ending the long-standing conflict between the governments in the People’s Republic of China and in Taiwan while recognizing that the resolution of the status of Taiwan is a matter for the People’s Republic of China and for Taiwan and in that context opposes the sale of US military equipment to Taiwan;
declares our continuing concern regarding the human rights of all people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits; and
recognizes that US-PRC relations have an important influence on the peace and stability of the Asian region, particularly in Southeast Asia; and urges the United States and the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan to seek peaceful means to contribute to the peace and stability of the region.

ADOPTED 1984
AMENDED AND READOPTED 2000, 2008, 2012
RESOLUTION #6051, 2012 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #6045, 2008 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #301, 2004 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #281, 2000 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS

See Social Principles, ¶ 165C, D.

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