The focus of this first volume is the EEC’s relations with the Republic of China located in Taiwan covering the period of the 1950s to the 1970s but particularly the 1960s-1970s in the context of the People’s Republic of China coming onto the world stage based on archival materials collected from the Archives of the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. The authors let the archives speak, so to speak; hence, the extensive archival references at the end of each chapter. In setting this time period, the authors in this volume have chosen to relate the story in a chronological order as far as possible. The advantage of this approach is that it gives a kind of “daily life”, dynamism of the relations between both sides as issues and events unfold. Gaps in re-counting what happened required the use of two secondary sources on trade ties especially for the early years of the 1950s and 1960s.During this time period with its economic and political dimensions, the crux is state recognition, diplomatic relations and trade relations. Starting with the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States of 1933a State is defined as follows: “The State as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with other states.”1 However, fulfilling all the criteria for statehood does not automatically mean that other states will grant recognition. Granting state recognition is at the discretion of states affected by political considerations and vested interests.
