JCC Shanghai Communiqué 1982

The US-China relationship has been the new conversation starter among political scholars and students recently. With the trade war and technological competitions, China and the US have significantly influenced the global economy and the international order. The fact that the two states play such a huge role in current affairs makes it important to investigate the development of their relationship because many of the problems exposed today are historically rooted. The US-China relationship base itself on the three Shanghai communiqués that happened separately in 1972, 1979, and 1982. Each communiqué has its own contribution and posts their own challenge to this relationship. The committee at CMUNCE XIX is simulating the third and last Shanghai communiqué in 1982 where China and the US tried to strengthen diplomatic ties and solve the Taiwan issue. Through the course of these three communiqués, US and China worked to share a common stance on issues like the Korean peninsula, Vietnam, and most importantly the Soviet Union. But the thing that’s holding back the negotiations is the cross-strait relationship between Mainland China and Taiwan. While the US did officially recognize Beijing as the legitimate government of China in 1979 and promised to end formal diplomatic relationships with Taiwan, it continued to sell arms to Taiwan. This action has been seen by Beijing as supporting the independence of Taiwan and betraying the precious peace in the Sino-US relationship. The first two communiqués failed to solve the Taiwan issue, so we are here, in the 1982 Shanghai Communiqué, trying our best to come up with a solution that can benefit both parties.