The U.S. Breaks Relations with a Loyal Ally for the First Time in History: Former AmCham Taipei President Robert Parker Tells the Story of “Derecognition” – S5-E30

Everyone knew it was coming, but when U.S. President Carter
announced on Dec. 15, 1978 that Washington D.C. was switching
diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in two weeks, both
the Taiwanese people and the foreign community (then mostly
Americans) were shocked.





On that historic day of Jan. 1, 1979, Robert Parker began his
term as the President of the American Chamber of Commerce. He
soon found himself forced to act as a kind of de facto U.S.
ambassador. Part of the bombshell announcement was the deadline
for decoupling: everything and everyone officially connected to
the United States would vanish by April 1979.





For Parker, this resulted in near-surreal experiences that
included helping cobble together a civilian radio station in 90
days (ICRT FM100.7), walking a political tightrope to determine
the legality of the Taipei American School, and testifying before
the U.S. Congress as American officials reacted to Carter’s
recognition of the PRC by passing the Taiwan Relations Act… a
large part of which was based on his testimony.





These tumultuous times are described in his 2025 book (written
with Don Shapiro), “Derecognition: How Americans in Taiwan
surmounted multiple crises and helped shape the Taiwan Relations
Act when the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with a loyal ally” –
and this week, we’re happy to have Mr. Parker on Formosa Files
for a fascinating chat.








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Music : "Love Rain" By Thomas Gresen is licensed
under a Creative Commons License. GRSN Music. 24 July 2022