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id	eprints-32503
recordtype	eprints
institution	SOAS, University of London
collection	SOAS Research Online
language	English
language_search	English
description	This paper shows that while China now attaches geostrategic importance to Taiwan, it has not always done so. It has only accorded such significance to Taiwan in the post-Mao era. By reviewing how Taiwan became a Japanese colony, how it came under the control of Chiang Kai-shek’s government, and how it came to be seen by the government of the People’s Republic of China as a sacred territory before being deemed geostrategically significant, this paper seeks to demonstrate that Taiwan’s importance to China is not based on geography, an immutable factor. Instead, it was the result of contingencies of history and the changed calculations of succeeding governments in China. This leads to the important conclusion that the geostrategic importance the Chinese government now attaches to Taiwan may change if the Chinese leadership alters its strategic calculus or if the government itself is replaced.
format	Journal Article
author	Tsang, Steve
author_facet	Tsang, Steve
authorStr	Tsang, Steve
author_letter	Tsang, Steve
title	From Japanese Colony to Sacred Chinese Territory: Taiwan’s Geostrategic Significance to China Historicized
publisher	Johns Hopkins University Press
publishDate	2020
url	https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/32503/