Is It Worth the Price We Paid?

In mid-December the inevitable finally occurred. Anti-American demonstrators hooted in Taipei, capital of what had been an American ally since the Second World War. At the same moment, Americans were applauded in Peking, capital of what had been an enemy of the United States from the intervention of “Chinese People’s Volunteers” in the Korean War in 1950 until Henry Kissinger’s secret visit in 1971.

Public attitudes in the “two cities” were radically altered by an action that had impended since Peking and Washington realized that their joint interest in curtailing Soviet imperialism far outweighed the conflicts that divided them. The United States and the People’s Republic therefore agreed in mid-December to raise their liaison offices to the rank of embassies. That formal agreement required the United States to close its embassy in Taipei: it could hardly maintain full diplomatic relations with two nations that both claimed to rule all China, including Taiwan.

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Robert Elegant

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In mid-December the inevitable finally occurred. Anti-American demonstrators hooted in Taipei, capital of what had been an American ally since the Second World War. At the same moment, Americans were applauded in Peking, capital of what had been an enemy of the United States from the intervention of “Chinese People’s Volunteers” in the Korean War in 1950 until Henry Kissinger’s secret visit in 1971.

Public attitudes in the “two cities” were radically altered by an action that had impended since Peking and Washington realized that their joint interest in curtailing Soviet imperialism far outweighed the conflicts that divided them. The United States and the People’s Republic therefore agreed in mid-December to raise their liaison offices to the rank of embassies. That formal agreement required the United States to close its embassy in Taipei: it could hardly maintain full diplomatic relations with two nations that both claimed to rule all China, including Taiwan.