China’s missile tests near Taiwan ports deterred Taiwan’s push for recognition

Evidence

This movement toward accommodation was abruptly suspended in 1995 as the Taiwanese government aggressively pushed for diplomatic recognition and admission to international organizations. President Lee Teng-hui made a “private” visit to the United States, and Taiwan held legislative elections in December 1995 followed by presidential elections in March 1996. In response, the Chinese government tested missiles in waters close to the major Taiwanese ports and engaged in military exercises near Taiwanese-controlled offshore islands. These developments raised two key issues. For the present, can Taiwan remain democratic without becoming formally independent? In the future could Taiwan be democratic without remaining actually independent? — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 469

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth revisiting whether Huntington’s framing of the democracy-independence tension still holds decades later, and whether the missile crises actually deterred Taiwan.