The U.S. Neo-conservatism and Its Views onaiwan Strait Policy

This paper surveys and investigates the ideas and impact on U.S. foreign policy directed toward the Taiwan Strait of a small but influential group of liberals who became known as the Neo-conservatives. he focus of this research is on the transformation of the Neo-conservatives from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans, and how they have viewed and influenced the strategic debate over cross-strait issues since the Cold War. he thesis contains three main points. First, that the Neo-conservatives’ steadfast ant-communism was based on their historical experience and accompanied by a belief in the superiority of American democratic values; second, that the Neo-conservatives saw Europe as the main venue of superpower rivalry—the strategic center of gravity—during the Cold War, and now perceive that the new strategic center of concern is shifting to East Asia; and therefore thirdly, that Neo-conservatives have asserted a policy of strategic containment rather than engagement regarding China. They have sought to strengthen defensive relationships with key Asian democratic alliances instead of adopting a more “Sino-centric” approach and abandoning strategic ambiguity for the more current concept of strategic clarity. These assertions have had considerable influence on the triangle relationship between the U.S., Taiwan and China.