Source: EastBridge

Michael Swaine focuses on Taiwan's relationship with the United States.  The Chen administration "traveresed the full spectrum of relations with the United States: from trusted democratic friend and quasi-ally with increasingly convergent views, to highly distrusted and disliked leader, viewed by Washington as potentially disruptive of some vital U.S. interests".  Swaine places the blame for this change squarely at Chen's door.  Electoral politics trumped a careful consideration of the long-term strategic importance of the delicate relationship with the United States.  Although the strains of the relationship were clear, in his second term Chen continued to "push the envelope" on the independence issue.  But, Swaine concludes, the general public, having been to the brink of exacerbated relations with the United States and potential conflict with the Mainland, may become increasingly attracted to a middle course of pragmatism in cross-Strait relations. 

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