On the Brink: A Military History of Taiwan

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 defending an island less th...