Drawing on newly declassified U.S. records and Chinese-language sources, this is the first comprehensive history of Taiwan’s armed forces and their central role in resisting Chinese pressure for more than seventy-five years. It reveals how Taiwan built a resilient military under extreme constraints, forged a lasting U.S. security partnership, and helped shape the island’s democratic transformation.Since 1949, Taiwan’s armed forces have faced the daunting task of de...

Uncertain Allies looks at the U.S. military’s experience in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater during World War II through the eyes of Joseph Stilwell, the commanding general of all American forces in those three countries. Accomplished historian Eric Setzekorn, focuses on two key themes: uncertain allies and ambiguous missions.Despite being allies, relationships between the Americans and Chinese, as well as the Americans and the British,...

Arming East Asia: Deterring China in the Early Cold War examines President Eisenhower‘s mutual security program in East Asia and explains how that administration worked to contain China. This historical chronicle offers insights and perspectives regarding how to address Sino-American tensions and maintain a free and open Asia-Pacific. Eric Setzekorn argues that President Eisenhower expanded and solidified the U.S. presence in East Asia through use of military aid and military advi...

The People’s Republic of China is the only large country in the world that does not have a “national” military; its military answers only to a political party, the Chinese Communist Party. For a brief period in the mid-twentieth century, China had the makings of a professional, apolitical military force. The Rise and Fall of an Officer Corps tells the story of that moment in the military history of modern China—how it came to be, why it ultimately failed, and what it meant for Chi...

Uncertain Allies looks at the United States military's experience in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater during World War II through the eyes of Joseph Stilwell, the commanding general of American forces in those three countries. Historian Eric Setzekorn focuses on two themes: uncertain allies and ambiguous missions.Despite being allies, relationships between the Americans and Chinese, as well as Americans and the British, were marked by a lack of trust in the CBI theater....