Taiwan Strait

alternative Taiwan Straits

1. The strait dividing mainland Asia (incl. mainland China) from Taiwan island and connecting the East and South China Seas.

   This Nation, which has fundamental commitments to the Republic of China, has for many years sought the renunciation of force in the Taiwan Strait.

   1971 [1964 January 18], Lyndon Johnson, “Letter to Chairman Khrushchev”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 602

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   Formosa (Taiwan) is an island located about 200 miles north of the Philippine Islands, and separated from the southeastern coast of China by Taiwan Strait.

   1946, “Japanese Colonies (Before surrender in 1945)”, in Lewis Copeland, editor, The Handy Encyclopedia Of Useful Information, Philadelphia: Blakiston Company, page 147

   Kinmen now supplies fully a third of Taiwan’s kaolin and feldspar need. A total of 40,000 tons of kaolin and 4,200 tons of feldspar will be shipped across the Taiwan Strait this year.

   1973 September 23, “Porcelain kilns are booming”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 37, Taipei, page 2

   Taipei lies on the east bank of the Tan-shui river between the mouths of two of its tributaries, the Hsin-tien and the Chi-lung. These rivers drain a fertile and humid basin surrounded by mountains on all sides but the northwest, where the Tan-shui flows into the Taiwan Straits facing the mainland.

   [1974, Stephan Feuchtwang, “City Temples in Taipei Under Three Regimes”, in Mark Elvin, G. William Skinner, editors, The Chinese City Between Two Worlds, Stanford, Cali.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 264

   It was New Year's Eve, and the eighteen American officials who had hurriedly gathered in the State Department Operations Room on 31 December 1970, were still sharply divided after four hours of discussion.¹ The issue was what, if anything, the Seventh Fleet should do in the event of Chinese naval action against the U.S. seismic survey vessels then beginning to explore for oil in disputed waters of the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and the Yellow Sea.

   1977, Selig S. Harrison, China, Oil and Asia: Conflict Ahead?, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 1

   China liked the Taiwanese investment, but could not agree to give up its claim to sovereignty over the island; finding the right balance between economic pragmatism and aggressive nationalism was a constant challenge for China's leaders, especially during election season in Taiwan. I thought China had gone too far with the missile tests, and quickly, but without fanfare, I ordered a carrier group from the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet to sail to the Taiwan Strait. The crisis passed.

   2005, Bill Clinton, My Life, volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 314

   Synonyms: Black Ditch, Formosa Strait, Strait of Fokien, Channel of Formosa