Why It Matters

For decades, the U.S. one-China policy rested on two pillars: the three joint communiqués with Beijing and the Taiwan Relations Act. Since 2020, administrations have added a third pillar, the Six Assurances, which are commitments the U.S. made to Taiwan's president in 1982 that it would not pressure Taiwan into negotiations, mediate between Taipei and Beijing, set a timeline for ending arms sales, or revise the Taiwan Relations Act.

Congress has now passed 11 laws since 2017 referencing these assurances, signaling bipartisan interest in cementing them as official policy. The 119th Congress is currently considering legislation that would formally codify them into law. A new CRS report published August 4 titled "President Reagan’s Six Assurances to Taiwan" looks into the details of this proposed action.

The Big Picture

Three separate official U.S. government versions of the Six Assurances exist: the Eagleburger cable, the Shultz cable, and Assistant Secretary Holdridge's congressional testimony. That communiqué contained U.S. statements about not seeking a long-term arms sales policy with Taiwan and intending to reduce such sales gradually. To balance those statements, the Reagan administration simultaneously assured Taiwan that the U.S. had not agreed to set a date for ending arms sales, had not agreed to consult with Beijing before selling arms to Taiwan, and had not agreed to take any position on Taiwan's sovereignty.

For nearly 38 years, only one official U.S. government text for these assurances existed: language woven into congressional testimony by Assistant Secretary of State John Holdridge in August 1982. The Eagleburger and Shultz cables, which contained the original versions of the assurances, remained classified until the first Trump Administration declassified them in 2020. Since 2020, administrations have reordered the one-China policy framework to list the Taiwan Relations Act first and have explicitly added the Six Assurances as a third pillar alongside the communiqués.

The three official versions of the assurances vary in their language, some using past tense ("have not agreed") and others forward-looking language ("will not," "will never"), creating ambiguity about whether they are historical statements or ongoing commitments.

National Defense Authorization Acts for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 state the sense of Congress that the U.S. should strengthen its Taiwan partnership consistent with the communiqués, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances. The proposed Six Assurances to Taiwan Act would consolidate the three existing official versions into a single statutory text.

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