Strait Talk

United States-Taiwan Relations and the Crisis with China

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780674060524
  9780674031876
• eBook ISBN:
  9780674261716
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Chinese History
• Index: History

Relations among the United States, Taiwan, and China challenge policymakers, international relations specialists, and a concerned public to examine their assumptions about security, sovereignty, and peace. Only a Taiwan Straits conflict could plunge Americans into war with a nuclear-armed great power. In a timely and deeply informed book, Nancy Bernkopf Tucker traces the thorny relationship between the United States and Taiwan as both watch China's power grow.

Although Taiwan–U.S. security has been intertwined since the 1950s, neither Taipei nor Washington ever fully embraced the other. Differences in priorities and perspectives repeatedly raised questions about the wisdom of the alignment. Tucker discusses the nature of U.S. commitments to Taiwan; the intricacies of policy decisions; the intentions of critical actors; the impact of Taiwan's democratization; the role of lobbying; and the accelerating difficulty of balancing Taiwan against China. In particular, she examines the destructive mistrust that undermines U.S. cooperation with Taiwan, stymieing efforts to resolve cross-Strait tensions.

Strait Talk offers valuable historical context for understanding U.S.–Taiwan ties and is essential reading for anyone interested in international relations and security issues today.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Landscape and Memory
• In The Context Of The Cold War
• Détente
• Ford’s Tribulations
• Moral Imperatives; Military Challenges
• Recognizing Your Friends and Enemies
• The End of the Cold War
• Search for a New World Order
• War Against Terrorism
• Conclusion: The Uses of Adversity
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Interviews
• Bibliography
• Index