Cross-Strait Strains

1949 Communist forces led by Mao Zedong defeat Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, driving him and more than a million followers to Taiwan. Chiang sets up a government-in-exile and vows to "recover the mainland"

1954 The U.S. signs a mutual-defense treaty with Taiwan

1958 China attacks the island of Quemoy, a base for about 100,000 Nationalist troops in the Taiwan Strait, in a bid to "liberate" Taiwan. The U.S. deploys the Seventh Fleet; the Chinese back off

1971 Taiwan is expelled from the United Nations and its seat given to China, following a secret...

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