U.S.-Taiwan Relations

Ryan Hass; Bonnie Glaser; Richard Bush

doi:10.5771/9780815740001

Summary

Anxiety about China’s growing military capabilities to threaten Taiwan has induced alarm in Washington about whether the United States remains capable of deterring attempts to seize Taiwan by force. This alarm has fed American impulses to alter longstanding policy, and to increasingly view challenges confronting Taiwan through a military lens. While Taiwan clearly is under growing military threat, it also is facing a simultaneous and intensifying Chinese political campaign to wear down the will of the Taiwan people. This latter line of effort receives less attention, but left unaddressed, has the potential to do far more damage to American interests.

This book rightsizes the risks confronting Taiwan by taking a holistic view of China’s national ambitions and Taiwan’s role in them, China’s strategies for pursuing unification with Taiwan, and America’s most effective responses. Contrary to many other books on the market, the authors make the case for why conflict in the Taiwan Strait is not preordained, and in fact, it would be strategic folly for the United States to conclude that conflict is inescapable.

Hass, Bush, and Glaser argue that the center of gravity for determining the future of Taiwan is the will of Taiwan’s 23 million people. American policy should focus on their hopes and fears if the United States wishes to maintain influence over events in the Taiwan Strait. This calls for American resoluteness and steadiness of purpose in fortifying Taiwan’s economic dynamism, political autonomy, military preparedness, and dignity and respect on the world stage. Maintaining credible military deterrence is the minimum threshold, not the measure of success. U.S.-Taiwan Relations will be an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and journalists to understand this critical moment in U.S. foreign policy.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
Publication date: 15.04.2023
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-4034-6
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-4000-1
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 178
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Evaluating the Challenge No access
2. Recommendations Going Forward No access
3. Notes No access
1. From the Seventeenth Century to 1894 No access
2. Japan on Taiwan and Civil War in China: 1895–1941 No access
3. Pearl Harbor to the Korean War No access
4. The Korean War to Normalization of U.S.-PRC Relations No access
5. Dueling Over Unification and Independence No access
6. 1. Revisiting Taiwan Arms Sales No access
  2. 1. Wild Card: Taiwan’s Democratization No access
  3. Beginning Political Contacts with Beijing No access
  4. Arms Sales Again No access
7. 1. Temporary Stabilization No access
  2. Tensions Rise Again No access
8. The 2000 Election Season No access
9. Chen Shui-bian Alienates the Bush Administration No access
10. The Ma Ying-jeou Administration No access
11. Conclusion No access
12. Notes No access
1. Tussle over the “1992 Consensus” No access
2. The PRC’s Use of Coercion No access
3. Xi Jinping’s Taiwan Strategy No access
4. U.S. Policy toward Taiwan under Trump No access
5. How Tsai Ing-wen Managed Relations with the United States in the Trump Era No access
6. Biden Inherits Tense U.S.-China and Cross-Strait Relationships No access
7. Biden Administration Policy toward Taiwan No access
8. Is Strategic Ambiguity Outdated? No access
9. Speaker Pelosi Travels to Taiwan No access
10. Conclusion No access
11. Notes No access
1. America’s Top Interests and Objectives in Taiwan No access
2. Future Cross-Strait Scenarios and Implications for American Interests No access
3. 1. Taiwan Deepens Economic Dependence on China No access
  2. Deglobalization and U.S.-China Economic Decoupling Lead to Taiwan’s Growing Isolation No access
4. 1. Negotiated Political Settlement between Taiwan and the PRC No access
  2. Adaptation of Status Quo No access
  3. China Initiates Limited Military Action against Taiwan to Bolster Its “Red Lines” No access
  4. Conflict Precipitated by Taiwan Declaration of De Jure Independence No access
  5. PRC-Initiated Military Conflict in the Taiwan Strait No access
5. 1. 1. Sharpening Deterrence Options No access
    2. Political-Military Campaign Planning No access
  2. Bolstering Taiwan’s Deterrence Capabilities No access
  3. 1. Policy Options for Responding to Coercion without Violence No access
6. Recalling America’s Role in Preserving Cross-Strait Peace and Stability No access
7. Notes No access
Further Reading No access Pages 133 - 136
1. JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA No access
2. JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA(AUGUST 17, 1982) No access
3. An Act No access
4. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY No access
5. IMPLEMENTATION OF UNITED STATES POLICY WITH REGARD TO TAIWAN No access
6. APPLICATION OF LAWS; INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS No access
7. OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION No access
8. THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF TAIWAN No access
9. SERVICES BY THE INSTITUTE TO UNITED STATES CITIZENS ON TAIWAN No access
10. TAX EXEMPT STATUS OF THE INSTITUTE No access
11. FURNISHING PROPERTY AND SERVICES TO AND OBTAINING SERVICES FROM THE INSTITUTE No access
12. TAIWAN INSTRUMENTALITY No access
13. SEPARATION OF GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL FOR EMPLOYMENT WITH THE INSTITUTE No access
14. REPORTING REQUIREMENT No access
15. RULES AND REGULATIONS No access
16. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT No access
17. DEFINITIONS No access
18. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS No access
19. SEVERABILITY OF PROVISIONS No access
20. EFFECTIVE DATE No access
Index No access Pages 169 - 176
About the Authors No access Pages 177 - 178