S4-E24 - Ronald Reagan and the ROC (Taiwan)

Did you know that when the United Nations voted to
admit “Red China” in 1971, then-California Governor Ronald Reagan
called up President Richard Nixon and suggested that
the United States quit the UN and become an “observer”
in protest? 


 


To some, Reagan was and is controversial, but when it comes
to support for the Republic of China (Taiwan), there is no
debate: Reagan thought Nixon and – especially Carter – were
wrong to “throw a loyal friend overboard.”  


 


Reagan came to Taiwan twice. The first time, in 1971, he was here
as a reluctant envoy of Nixon on a mission to try and calm the
fears of CKS over Nixon’s upcoming meeting with Mao in Beijing.
During the second visit, as a private citizen in 1978, Reagan met
with leader-in-waiting Chiang Ching-kuo and went back to the US
full of praise for a modernizing Taiwan. 


 


When President Carter switched diplomatic relations from Taipei
to Beijing, Reagan stated that the US didn’t get enough out
of it. He pointed out that China was the “supplicant,” and
therefore in a position of weakness, and Reagan said that the
precedent of betraying a friend would not be forgotten by other
friends of the US. 


 


Maybe he had a point.  








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