Strait Talk

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker was Professor of History at Georgetown University and at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

• * Contents * Illustrations * Acknowledgments * Introduction: Landscape and Memory * In the Context of the Cold War * The Origins of Strategic Ambiguity Detente * Taiwan Expendable? * Survival Ford's Tribulations * Collapse and Reprieve Moral Imperatives; Military Challenges * Derecognition * Final Act * The Taiwan Relations Act Recognizing Your Friends and Enemies * The Reagan Difference * American Assurances The End of the Cold War * Shifting Ground Search for a New World Order * Change and Continuity * Taiwan Strait Crisis * Setting the Record Straight War against Terrorism * The Influence of Democracy * Conclusion: The Uses of Adversity * Abbreviations * Notes * Interviews * Bibliography * Index

An important work that will make a strong impact and be widely read. Tucker argues that relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, and between the U.S. and China, are difficult today because successive American administrations knowingly created expectations in Taipei and Beijing that could not be met. She concludes that real progress in these relationships will require the United States to build trust. This book should provoke introspection in Washington, and will help readers everywhere understand this complex relationship.