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Históricamente, la zona del Indo-Pacífico ha sido una región donde los conflictos y choques entre actores regionales, además de estar condicionados por los intereses de estos mismos actores, han estado influenciados por los países del entorno y por los intereses de las grandes potencias. Entre la diversidad de escenarios de confrontación que se desarrollan en la zona y más concretamente en la región de Asia-Pacífico, podemos encontrar uno de los principales focos de conflicto en el entorno, el contencioso que envuelve a la soberanía de Taiwán. Las diferentes dimensiones que envuelven el contencioso de Taiwán y principalmente su constitución como estado soberano reconocido internacionalmente, están atravesadas por las políticas exteriores de los principales actores en la zona. En primer lugar, la soberanía y el desarrollo de las actividades del gobierno de Taipéi están limitadas por los intentos de anexión de la isla por parte de la República Popular de China. Estas aspiraciones dan como resultado un tensionamiento militar permanente en el estrecho de Taiwán y que terceros no reconozcan oficialmente a Taiwán como estado soberano por miedo al empeoramiento de relaciones diplomáticas y comerciales con Beijing. Junto a las demandas chinas sobre Taiwán, el reconocimiento de este territorio como estado soberano está condicionado por la política exterior y de seguridad de Estados Unidos en la zona. Esta política está basada en la asunción de la defensa territorial de Taiwán ante una posible agresión militar china, pero manteniendo una postura ambivalente en el reconocimiento internacional de Taiwán como estado soberano. Si bien Estados Unidos mantiene relaciones propias de los estados soberanos con el gobierno de Taipéi, desde 1979 no reconoce oficialmente a Taiwán debido a las implicaciones que un reconocimiento del territorio tendría en sus relaciones con Beijing. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar y comprender cómo las disputas entre Estados Unidos y China condicionan las distintas dimensiones de la soberanía y medir el impacto que estas disputas tienen en la actualidad en el desarrollo normalizado de la soberanía de Taiwán. A través del estudio de Taiwán analizaremos el impacto que los choques de intereses entre grandes potencias tienen en el desarrollo normalizado de la soberanía estatal de Taiwán y los países del Indo-Pacífico. El artículo partirá de un análisis complejo del concepto de soberanía ligada a los estados y al territorio. En segundo lugar, analizaremos la evolución de las distintas dimensiones de la soberanía de Taiwán desde la constitución de su gobierno en 1949 hasta la actualidad. En este apartado mediremos también la influencia que las disputas entre Estados Unidos y China han tenido en estas dimensiones. Por último, a modo de conclusión, estudiaremos los elementos que determinan y condicionan el desarrollo de la soberanía de Taiwán en la actualidad. Este análisis busca entender cómo las disputas entre grandes poderes condicionan el desarrollo normalizado de la soberanía de los países del Indo-Pacífico.
Historically, the Indo-Pacific area has been a region where conflicts and clashes between regional actors, besides being conditioned by the interests of these same actors, have been influenced by the surrounding countries and by the interests of the great powers. Among the diversity of confrontation scenarios occurring in the area and, more specifically, in the Asia-Pacific region, we find the dispute over the sovereignty of Taiwan as one of the main sources of conflict in the region. The different dimensions of Taiwan’s dispute, and mainly its constitution as an internationally recognized sovereign state, are affected by the foreign policies of the main actors in the area.In the first place, the sovereignty and development of the activities of the government of Taipei are limited by the annexation attempts of the island by the People’s Republic of China. These aspirations result in permanent military tension in the Taiwan Strait and third parties not officially recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign state for fear of worsening diplomatic and trade relations with Beijing. Along with Chinese demands on Taiwan, the recognition of this territory as a sovereign state is conditioned by the foreign and security policy of the United States in the area. This policy assumes Taiwan’s territorial defense in the frame of possible Chinese military aggression, while maintaining an ambivalent position on the international recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. Although the United States maintains sovereign state relations with the government of Taipei, since 1979 it has not officially recognized Taiwan because of the implications that recognition of the territory would have on its relations with Beijing. The purpose of this article is to analyze and understand how disputes between the United States and China determine the various dimensions of sovereignty and to measure the impact that these disputes currently have on the normalized development of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Through the study of Taiwan, we will analyze the impact that clashes of interests between great powers have on the normalized development of state sovereignty in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific countries. The article will start with a complex analysis of the concept of sovereignty linked to states and territory. Secondly, we will analyze the evolution of the different dimensions of Taiwan’s sovereignty from the constitution of its government in 1949 to the present day. We will also measure the influence that the disputes between the United States and China have had on these dimensions. Finally, by way of a conclusion, we will study the elements that determine and condition the development of Taiwan’s sovereignty today. This analysis is aimed at understanding how disputes between great powers impact the normalized development of sovereignty in Indo-Pacific countries. The article will start with a complex analysis of the concept of sovereignty linked to states and territory. In this section, we will address the basis of the sovereign conception of states, focusing our approach mainly on the international dimension of sovereignty. Following this perspective, we will detail the conditions that a state must have in order to be considered a sovereign subject from the perspective of International Relations and International Law. These elements will be analyzed mainly through the requirements established in the Convention on the Rights and Duties of States signed by the Organization of American States (OAS), which provides a basic legal framework to understand the characteristics that states have as sovereign subjects. Second, we will analyze the evolution of the different dimensions of Taiwan’s sovereignty from the establishment of its government in 1949 to the present. We will start by analyzing Taiwan’s evolution as an administrative territory and the transformation that its political-administrative claims have undergone since the establishment of the Taipei government as the international political context has evolved. We will unravel its struggle with the People’s Republic of China to be recognized as the legitimate government that emerged from the Xinhai Revolution during the Cold War period. In this section we will focus our approach on the evolution experienced by Taiwan’s political-administrative claims during this period and how, after the China-US rapprochement, the international recognition of the Taipei government is decreasing and generating a territorial and sovereign status quo that conditions Taiwan’s development as a normalized sovereign entity. We will analyze the adaptation of its strategy, mainly after the democratization process, where Taiwan, aware of its lack of international recognition, claims itself as a separate subject from the People’s Republic of China. After observing the evolution of the strategy of successive governments in Taipei, we will analyze how the major powers with a presence in the Indo-Pacific condition the normalized development of Taiwanese sovereignty. In this section, we will measure the conditioning that Chinese and U.S. foreign policy have on the development of the dimensions of Taiwan’s sovereignty and the influence that U.S.-China disputes have had on these dimensions. We will address the claims and the position of successive governments in Beijing vis-à-vis the Taiwanese dispute. For this task, we will synthesize China’s claims over Taiwan and analyze official documents detailing the Beijing government’s current strategy for dealing with this dispute, which is based on the historical claim of reunification of Taiwan and mainland China. After analyzing the limitations that the People’s Republic of China’s policy places on the development of Taiwan’s sovereignty, we will observe how U.S. foreign policy and its projection of power in the Indo-Pacific region has conditioned Taiwan’s sovereignty over the years. To measure the impact of U.S. foreign policy, we will begin with an analysis of U.S. military involvement in the First and Second Cross-Strait Crises (1954 and 1958, respectively), continue with the China-U.S. rapprochement between 1971 and 1979, and then move on to the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances established by the Reagan administration. To conclude, we will unpack the Pivot to Asia strategy initiated by the Obama administration, along with the National Security and Indo-Pacific strategies that detail the U.S. position on the Taiwan dispute. After integrating the strategies and visions of the three actors that determine the development of Taiwan’s sovereignty today, we will detail the conclusions of our work. Finally, we will conclude with the elements that determine and condition the development of Taiwan’s sovereignty today. This analysis is aimed not only at understanding how disputes between great powers condition the normalized development of sovereignty in Indo-Pacific countries.
