Politics & Governance / International Politics / Diplomacy & International Relations

The Carter Administration's Perceptions and Responses to the Sino-Vietnamese War

The Carter Administration's Perceptions and Responses to the Sino-Vietnamese War

The Carter Administration's Perceptions and Responses to the Sino-Vietnamese War This article systematically analyzes the Carter administration's changing perceptions and diplomatic responses during the Sino-Vietnamese War by interpreting declassified US documents. The authors point out that the US initially, out of concern for US-Soviet relations and stability across the Taiwan Strait, strongly discouraged China from taking military action and attempted to isolate Vietnam through diplomatic means to ease the situation. After the outbreak of war, the Carter administration established the core objectives of non-intervention, limiting Soviet expansion, and maintaining the achievements of normalized Sino-US relations. To this end, the US adopted a balancing strategy internationally, linking China's troop withdrawal with Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia, while secretly providing China with intelligence on Soviet troop movements. This stance objectively supported China's "punitive" actions. This article aims to refute the traditional view that "the US tacitly approved China's use of force," revealing the US's balancing act in pursuing the maximization of its strategic interests amidst the complex Cold War situation. "Analysis of the KMT's Election Defeat and Reform Dilemma from the Theory of 'Party Change' c201-202401019.pdf" Source Guide: This article utilizes the **theory of "party change"** to deeply analyze the reasons for the Kuomintang's (KMT) consecutive defeats in Taiwan's general elections since 2016 and its transformation dilemma. By comparing the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) successful revival after its 2008 defeat through leadership change and social movements, the author points out that although the KMT has made sporadic reform attempts, it has never been able to escape the constraints of the party's veteran members. The article emphasizes that the Kuomintang's core obstacle lies in the stalemate on cross-strait policy. Its insistence on the "1992 Consensus" struggles to gain the trust of mainstream public opinion on the island and fails to find new room for discourse within the current cross-strait situation. Although the 2024 election results gave it a slight majority in the Legislative Yuan, this superficial victory masks its fundamental problems of organizational rigidity and conservative stances, leading the party into a precarious state of stagnation.