ABSTRACT
Taiwan has survived and prospered after experiencing two major threats to its existence. The first was in 1950, when Truman interposed the American Seventh Fleet between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on the outbreak of the Korean War to prevent a Chinese military takeover of the island. The second was in the 1970s, when the Nixon/Kissinger rapprochement with China threatened to be consummated by the American willingness to turn a blind eye to whatever means Beijing chose to bring about unification with Taiwan. Taiwan remained the one issue which had the potential to lead to armed conflict between America and China. From an American perspective, the democratization of Taiwan had the effect of greatly complicating the American diplomatic and strategic goal of working with Beijing on major regional and global issues, while maintaining good relations with Taipei The international and regional context within which Taiwan embarked on democratic political reform was conducive to such a development.
