For about 15 years after the US canceled its security treaty with Taiwan and withdrew a military advisory group from Taipei, relative quiet prevailed across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, separating the island from China's mainland. Then, in 1995, the People's Republic of China fired missiles into waters near Taiwan to warn President Lee Teng-hui to cease seeking international recognition for Taiwan. A year later, the PRC fired another barrage of missiles in an attempt to influence an election in Taiwan. With President Clinton's approval, Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, then commander of US Pacific Command, deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups-Independence and Nimitz-to the waters east of Taiwan. The Chinese backed off, but the experience kicked plans to modernize the People's Liberation Army, which comprises all of China's forces, into high gear. The communist leadership used funds from economic reforms started 20 years earlier to pay for the military expansion.
展开▼
