From Ideological Foe to Uncertain Friend: Soviet Relations with Taiwan, 1943-82

Abstract

Based primarily upon newly available Soviet sources, this article examines Soviet-Taiwanese ties from 1943 until 1982, focusing upon the issues of United Nations membership and the 'two Chinas' question; the impact of the Sino-Soviet dispute on Taiwanese-Soviet relations; and the effect of the normalization of relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States in the 1970s on Soviet-Taiwanese relations. Until the Cold War ended, the need to maintain international communist solidarity that derived from the Soviet position of leadership within the socialist camp, and Taiwan's fears of alienating completely its powerful patron, the United States, kept initiatives towards developing closer economic and other ties small-scale and limited.