ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 explores the nexus between diplomacy (or ‘high politics’) and paradiplomacy by investigating subnational responses to the Tiananmen massacre in June 1989, President George H. Bush’s decision on arms sales to Taiwan in 1992, ROC President Lee Teng-hui’s visit to the US in 1995 and the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1995–1996. It argues that numerous subnational officials across the United States (particularly those in Alaska and Texas) voiced strong support for Taiwan during crucial turning points in US-China-Taiwan relations. However, their support did not determine Washington’s China policy. The chapter also demonstrates that paradiplomatic engagements provided state leaders (such as Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton) with formative experience in foreign affairs, which they found useful when running for federal office. It ends with the discussion of governors’ support for China’s normal permanent trade relations with the United States. In its conclusion, the chapter notes that state and local leaders’ challenges to Washington’s China strategy should caution those relegating the relevance of paradiplomacy exclusively to the realm of ‘low politics’.
