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Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was a treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China which had relocated to Taiwan after 1949. The treaty was signed on December 2, 1954. ^[1]

The treaty was ended after the United States established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China on January 1, 1979. As United States recognizes PRC, US withdrew military personnel from Taiwan, and shortly after the United States Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act. ^[2] The right for President Jimmy Carter to unilaterally annul a treaty, in this case the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, was the topic of the Supreme Court case Goldwater v. Carter in which the Supreme Court declined to rule on the legality of this action, given the political nature rather than judicial nature of the case, thereby allowing it to proceed.

The treaty consisted of ten main articles. Content of the treaty includes if one of the country came under attack, the other will come to aid and provides military support.

In the context of Cold War of the conflict and confrontation between Capitalism and Communism worldwide, this treaty secured Republic of China from invasion of People's Republic of China in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War on Mainland China after 1949 till it's termination.

This treaty includes the defense of Taiwan and Pescadores only. Therefore, Kinmen and Matsu are not protected by this treaty, in which led US stood aside during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.

This treaty also prevented Republic of China to initiate military action against Mainland China, since only Taiwan and Pescadre are included and all other actions are not supported.

Diplomatically, this treaty prolonged and assisted the Republic of China in maintaining legitimacy as the sole government of the whole of China with the inclusion of Outer Mongolia until the early 70s.

During the Cold War, this treaty also helped US policy makers to shape the Policy of Containment in East Asia together with South Korea and Japan against the spread of Communism.

1. ^ http://usinfo.org/sino/dtreaty_e.htm
2. ^ http://usinfo.org/sino/dtreaty_e.htm