Taiwan Straits

Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy

Bruce A. Elleman

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2014
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780810888906
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

In Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy, historian Bruce Elleman surveys the situation that has led to the current tensions between China and Taiwan. Starting in 1949, the final phase of the civil war in China, which ended with Communist rule of the mainland and nationalist control of Taiwan, this work explores how the 100-mile wide passage of water, known as the Taiwan Strait has served as the geographic flashpoint between the two nations.

Even though U.S. Navy destroyers have patrolled this body of water from 1950 to 1979, it has seen four crises—1954-55, 1958, 1962, and, after the withdrawal of the U.S. Navy, 1995-96—that threatened to push Taiwan and China to the brink of war. Notwithstanding the role of the United States in defusing cross-strait tensions for some three decades and the cold peace that has settled in since then, the Taiwan Strait continues to be a major source of anxiety for the region and the world.

Taiwan Straits: Crisis in Asia and the Role of the U.S. Navy traces the evolution of this tension between the two nations, details the history of the crises between them, and brings this story forward into the present by considering continuing sources of conflict, present diplomatic efforts by the aggrieved nations, and other key interests—from the United States and Europe to other regional powers—and future possible outcomes in the ongoing struggle between China and Taiwan relations. Simply written and cogently argued, it is the ideal source for military personnel, diplomats, and scholars and student of the modern Far East.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Maps, Figure, and Photos
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Historical Origins of the “Two China” Problem
• The Two Chinas, the Offshore Islands, and the Korean War
• The U.S. Seventh Fleet and the Taiwan Patrol Force
• Debates on the U.S.–China Policy
• The First Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1954 to 1955
• American Military and Financial Support for the Nationalists
• The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1958
• The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis and Sino–American Rapprochement
• PRC Economic Development, Tiananmen, and the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1995 to 1996
• Beijing–Taipei Cross-Strait Tensions and Cooperation
• Conclusion
• Further Reading
• Time Line of Major Events in the Taiwan Strait
• U.S.–ROC Mutual Defense Treaty, 2 December 1954 (Ratified 3 March 1955; terminated by the United States in 1980)
• The U.S. Congress Formosa Resolution (1955)
• Shanghai Communiqué, February 28, 1972
• Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America, December 16, 1978
• Taiwan Relations Act, April 10, 1979
• Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, August 17, 1982
• Anti-Secession Law adopted by NPC, March 14, 2005
• Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, June 29, 2010
• Acronyms
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author