President Jimmy Carter had unilaterally withdrawn from the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty establishing a defense pact between the United States and the Republic of China in January 1979, and the Taiwan Relations Act was Congress's response to enforce § Checks and balances and prevent excessive unilateral foreign policy change at the hands of the President without consent of Congress.

From the Chinese perspective, the bill was incompatible with the policies of the previous six United States administrations, particularly Ronald Reagan's 1982 Joint Communique.

The Chinese Government and people have, from the very beginning, expressed their strong condemnation of and resolute opposition to the Act, and have lodged serious representation with the U.S. side.

The Chinese side has taken note of the fact that the U.S. Government has expressed its opposition to the adoption of the Act by the U.S. Congress.

The Chinese side strongly urges the members of the U.S. Congress to stop at once this erroneous act of interfering in the internal affairs of China by using the question of Taiwan, and urges the U.S. Government to abide by the three China U.S. Joint Communiques, see clearly the harmful effect of the Act, and adopt concrete and effective measures to prevent it from becoming law so as not to seriously undermine the China-U.S. relations.