The Six Assurances

In 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan offered Taiwan assurances about what the U.S. had not agreed to in the negotiations over the third U.S.-PRC (People’s Republic of China) communiqué. These later came to be known as the Six Assurances and are as follows:

1. The U.S. has not agreed to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan.
2. The U.S. has not agreed to consult with the PRC on arms sales to Taiwan.
3. The U.S. will not play a mediation role between Taipei and Beijing.
4. The U.S. has not agreed to revise the Taiwan Relations Act.
5. The U.S. has not altered its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan.
6. The U.S. will not exert pressure on Taiwan to enter negotiations with the PRC.

A key component of Reagan’s Six Assurances is the discussion of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. It is U.S. policy that arms sales to Taiwan are conditional upon perceived threat from the PRC. Thus, increasing arms sales to Taiwan is a response to greater perceived aggression from the PRC.

In 2016, FAPA led a successful campaign urging Congress to pass a concurrent resolution reaffirming the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances as cornerstones of U.S.-Taiwan relations. In a statement following her visit to Taiwan in August 2022, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reasserted the United States’ continued support for the Six Assurances and the Taiwan Relations Act. Since 2017, Congress has passed at least eight laws and several resolutions affirming the Six Assurances as an important policy document in U.S.-Taiwan relations.