Hedging the China Threat: US-Taiwan Security Relations Since 1949

"An outstanding resource…. This essential guide to the world's most dangerous territorial dispute combines meticulous historical research with explanations of US foreign policy outcomes at both the domestic and the international level." —Shale Horowitz, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee The United States has never formally recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state, yet it has provided the country with security assistance since the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) government there in 1949. What accounts for this equivocal stance? And how is the US leveraging Taiwan against China? To unpack this complex triangular relationship, Shao-cheng Sun explores the history of US commitments to the ROC since the presidency of Harry S. Truman. His analysis of each successive administration's policymaking reveals the interplay of personal, domestic, and global interests in what has become one of the most precarious situations in world politics today. CONTENTS: