A nation must think before it acts.
A Strategic Triangle of ‘Two and a Half Powers’
Abstract
This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter’s decision to normalize relations with the Peoples’ Republic of China. Many scholars at the time were perplexed at the seeming haste of the decision. The Foreign PolicyResearch Institute’s former president, William R. Kintner, wrote of the problems of “strategic innocence,” as well as the potential unintended consequences of “Carter’s China Gamble.” His article, originally published in Fall 1979, reminds readers how perilous international relations were at the time and how high the stakes for were for future U.S.-Soviet relations, as well as the precarious position of Taiwan. Time has validated the prescience of his observations.