The Benign and the Belligerent: Re-Framing Taiwan’s Role in Southeast Asia’s Stability

In 1949, the Kuomintang (KMT) forces under Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan after they were defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Mao Zedong–this watershed event effectively marked the start of the Cold War in Asia. During the Cold War, the prospect of Communist expansion, as evidenced by the domino theory was deemed to pose the most serious threat to Southeast Asia’s political stability. By extension therefore, China was viewed as a political threat as well by Southeast Asian countries. In order to deal with the Chinese threat, Southeast Asian states, in alliance with Western states like the United States, formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) that was later replaced by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. The commonality between these two organisations was that both of them were anti-Communist in nature. The existence of strong anti-Communist sentiments in Southeast Asia made it logical to then assume that these states would find a natural ally in Taiwan. Yet, bilateral relations between Taiwa