Taiwan is often in the headlines as a possible trigger for a catastrophic war between China and the U.S., but behind the noise is a complex history. Ambiguity has been the defining aspect of Taiwan’s place in the world, since Nixon's rapprochement with China, with the island locked in a non-country limbo while growing into a dynamic economy and thriving democracy. The U.S. stance has varied with the prevailing winds in Washington, D.C., although the past few years have seen a more pro-Taiwan attitude. The Taiwanese population seems to be leaning toward independence while aware of the difficulties such a move would entail. Beijing regularly makes threats and provocations, seemingly unaware that its belligerence usually backfires.
Taiwan’s story is recounted in both books in a way that shows the importance of understanding the context of the conflict and is a starting point for us to delve into Taiwan’s past, finding critical clues to the turbulent present and future.
Please note the readings for each week are not required. Each Discussion Leader will select the sources to be focused on.
Week one : Making of the Taiwan Problem. 1943 to 1953
Chapter 1 Struggle
Week two : Choosing between Two Tyrannies, 1953 to 1971
Chapter 2, Struggle
Week three: Toward Another Crisis,
Chapter 3 Struggle 1971 to 1996
Week four: Impact of Democratization on Taiwan’s Identity, Personal Stories
Chapter 2 Trouble
Dr. David J. Lorenzo, Why Do Many Taiwanese Resist Unification with the
People’s Republic of China?: An Overview of Explanations, Journal of Indo-Pacific
Affairs, 2024, 2 pages
Lev Nachman, Shelley Rigger, and Nathan Kar Ming Chan, Taiwanese
perceptions of conflict: Continuity in the face of change, Brookings Institute, 2024
2 pages
Week five: Relationship with China, At the Front Line of Sharp Power 1996 to 2020
Chapter 3 Trouble and Chapter 4 Struggle
Charles Chong-Han Wu, The End of Washington’s Strategic Ambiguity?,
China Review, MAY 2021, Vol. 21, No. 2,, pp 177- 202.
Steven M. Goldstein and Randall Schriver, An Uncertain Relationship: The
United States, Taiwan and the Taiwan Relations Act, The China Quarterly Mar., 2001 pages 147 - 202
Gang Lin and Wenxing Zhou, Does Taiwan Matter to the United States?
Policy Debates on Taiwan Abandonment and Beyond, China Review, Vol.
18, No. 3, pages 177 – 206
Eyal Propper, The Roar of the Wolf Warriors: China’s Increasingly Aggressive Diplomacy, Institute for National Security
Studies (2020), 5 Pages.
Week six: How the World Complicated Taiwan
Chapters 4 and 5 Trouble
Week seven: Thinking through the Issue of Taiwan, 2021 to now
Chapter 6 Trouble and Chapter 5 Struggle
Luke P. Bellocchi, The Strategic Importance of Taiwan to the United States and Its
Allies: Part Two – Policy since the Start of the Russia-Ukraine War, The US Army
War College Quarterly Volume 53, Number 3 Volume 53, Number 3 (2023), 31 pg
Christina Lai, US-Taiwan Relations and the Future of the Liberal Order, US Army
War College 2024 2 pages
Jared M. McKinney and Peter Harris, Why China Might No Longer Defer an
Invasion of Taiwan: Four Key Variables, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army
War College (2024), 51 pages
Patrick Porter and Michael Mazarr, Countering China’s Adventurism over Taiwan,
Lowy Institute for International Policy (2021), 45 pages
Xin Qiang and Wang Jialin, Parallel Perceptions: Divergent Perspectives of the
United States and China on the Taiwan Issue and Risky Implications, China
Review, NOVEMBER 2023, pages 41-76
Kerry Brown and Kelley Wu Tzu-hui, THE TROUBLE WITH TAIWAN, 2024
Sulman Wasif Khan THE STRUGGLE FOR TAIWAN: A HISTORY OF AMERICA, CHINA, AND THE ISLAND CAUGHT BETWEEN, 2024
New and notable that may be of interest:
Kerry Brown, Why Taiwan Matters, St Martin’s 2025
Matt Pottinger, The Boiling Moat, Hoover Institution, 2025
Articles to be provided by Co-ordinator as PDFs