FILE: Washington D.C., USA - Oct 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of White House
2. Capitol Hill

Beijing, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Carty, International Law Expert (partially overlaid with shot 4/ending with shot 5):
"They decided that any expansion of China back into territories conquered by Japan, such as Taiwan, and the South China Sea islands, should not be permitted for strategic reasons."

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FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Tian'anmen Square, Chinese national flag
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FILE: Taipei City, Taiwan, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Cityscape
6. Various of traffic, pedestrians
7. Various of landmark Taipei 101 Tower, traffic

Beijing, China - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Shao Yuqun, Director, Institute for Taiwan, HK and Macao Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (partially overlaid with shots 9-10):
"For the United States, Taiwan is very important in these three sectors. Geo-strategic competition. The United States, they think about the 'first island chain'. And in the emerging technologies, of course chips. The Americans look at Taiwan's chips capability and the overall industry and try to move it back to the United States. And then third, ideological competition, the so called 'democracy versus autocracy'. The so called 'status of Taiwan is not decided', this old theory has come out again. They think a kind of a unified China would be the so called 'hegemony power' in this region."

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FILE: Washington D.C., USA - Oct 2024 (CCTV Video News Agency - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Capitol Hill

FILE: Taipei City, Taiwan, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of pedestrians
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11. Aerial shots of cityscape, Taipei 101 Tower

From blocking China's reunification in the 1950s to establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in countering the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and now competing over semiconductors and ideology - the policy of the U.S. on China's Taiwan region has always been a tool of strategic convenience.

To prevent China's reunification and to allow the U.S. to intervene in the island should it see fit in the future, it unilaterally declared Taiwan to be of "indeterminate status."

On June 27, 1950, Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the U.S., made a statement on the situation in Korean Peninsula, mentioning that the determination of the future status of "Formosa" (Taiwan) must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations.

"They decided that any expansion of China back into territories conquered by Japan, such as Taiwan, and the South China Sea islands, should not be permitted for strategic reasons," said Anthony Carty, an international law expert.

When it was in U.S. strategic interest to counter the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the U.S. established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1979. In doing so, its position on Taiwan flipped again.

On December 15, 1978, Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the U.S., made an address to the nation and read live on television and radio the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. The communique says, "The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China." Since then, China-U.S. relations have been normalized and have continued to develop.

The then U.S. position on Taiwan was by and large clear. But as China grew stronger, the U.S. started to row back from its original position. Taiwan's status seemingly became blurry again in the eyes of the U.S.

"For the United States, Taiwan is very important in these three sectors. Geo-strategic competition. The United States, they think about the 'first island chain'. And in the emerging technologies, of course chips. The Americans look at Taiwan's chips capability and the overall industry and try to move it back to the United States. And then third, ideological competition, the so called 'democracy versus autocracy'. The so called 'status of Taiwan is not decided', this old theory has come out again. They think a kind of a unified China would be the so called 'hegemony power' in this region," said Shao Yuqun, director of the Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.