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Following the Nationalist defeat on the mainland in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and his followers retreated to Taiwan, forming the Republic of China (ROC). Tensions with the People's Republic of China (PRC) focused on control over a number of offshore islands, especially Quemoy (Jinmen) and Matsu (Mazu). Twice in the 1950s tensions peaked, during the first (1954-55) and second (1958) Taiwan Strait crises. Today, relations between the ROC and PRC depend on quelling tensions over the Taiwan Strait. This work provides a short, but highly relevant, history of the Taiwan Strait, and its significance today.
List of contents
List of Illustrations; Introduction: Stalemate along the Taiwan Straits, 1949-2020; 1. The Two Chinas and the Battle for Control of Off shore Islands; 2. President Harry S. Truman's Decision to Protect Taiwan; 3. The First Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1954-55; 4. The Evacuation of the Dachen Islands, 1955; 5. The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1958; 6. The US Threat to Use Atomic Weapons; 7. Using Taiwan to Undermine the Sino- Soviet Alliance; 8. Taiwan during the Cold War and Afterward; Conclusion: The Taiwan Strait's Strategic Significance Today; Appendix: Naval Terms and Acronym List; Selected Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Bruce A. Elleman is a William V. Pratt Professor of International History a full professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, RI
