Legal Problems Of China And The United States, "the Three Joint Communiques"

In 1972, 1979 and 1982, the People's Republic of China and the United States ofAmerica had signed three famous Joint Communiqués, which are known as "theShanghai Communiqué", "the Communiqué of establishing diplomatic relationship"and "the 817 Communiqué" respectively. These three Joint Communiqués wereviewed as among the most important documents for the two countries to follow,because they contain many basic principles and promises made by the two countriesjointly. The three Joint Communiqués belong to the category of Treaty in Internationallaw. Even in the U.S. domestic legal system, the Communiqué is classified as the"Executive Agreement", which generally has no difference with a "Treaty" in itsimplementation. Therefore, there is no reason for the United States not to carry out thethree communiqués with a good will. One notorious excuse mentioned by the U.S.government frequently is its "Taiwan Relations Act", which has made harmful effectson both Sino-US relations and international law. Nevertheless. Such an excuse cannotbe justified in international law. Besides the most important motive for the US to havesuch appearance, which is its own national interests, there are at least two otherimportant factors worth mentioning. In conclusion, viewed from the present situation,the three Joint Communiqués will not be annulled in the foreseeable future. However,on one hand, the U.S. government will continue to follow the three JointCommuniqués, at least orally;but on the other hand, it will not easily give up makingtroubles for the Chinese government on the issue of Taiwan. From the legal point ofview, we can take some possible measures in at least six different aspects.