In the late 1970s, with relations between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China strained, the Carter administration saw an opening. The United States and its allies embarked on military and dual-use technology transfers to China as a counterweight to the USSR, transforming rapprochement into full-blown cooperation. Carter's decision to pivot away from the United States's traditional ally, the Republic of China on Taiwan, and embrace the People's Republic redefined the Cold War from a struggle against communism to one against the Soviet Union. It not only complicated a variety of American objectives-from the security of Taiwan to US-Soviet détente-but also sowed the seeds of future tensions between China and the West.
This book is an international history of the Carter administration's intricate relations with the two competing Chinese regimes, emphasizing the geopolitical significance and lasting implications of this crucial moment. Drawing extensively from previously untapped archives in several countries and languages, Sheng Peng uncovers the internal governmental debates across world capitals that affected Carter's China policy. He examines how the Carter administration attempted to balance relations with both Chinese governments as well as how Chinese and Taiwanese leaders navigated global rivalries. Revealing how the Carter years profoundly reshaped the course of the Cold War, this book sheds new light on the strategic, technological, and ideological competition that continues today.
