Carter Will Be Remembered for His Betrayal of Free China

It was met with stunning disillusion in Asia.

National Archives via Wikimedia Commons
Deng Xiaoping and President Carter at the White House on January 29, 1979 National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

President Carter’s decision in December 1978 to recognize Beijing as the capital of China, for which he’ll be remembered, was a shock to Taiwanese mesmerized into believing Washington would never forsake them. The Americans had treated Taipei as the rightful capital of all China ever since Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s defeated forces had fled to the island province as Mao’s Red Army stormed to victory in 1949.

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