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Reviews 141 large crowd of smiling friends and relatives gathered in our house. They sat down around our tables, gave speeches, praising you and thanking you, and ate the food I prepared. That was the greatest honor in the world. In our Shangbaodian village we have several 10,000 yuan-a-year families, but do tiiey have the power to invite all these people to eat, as we did in our house?" (p. 270). At last, the most important accomplishment in Cuilian's life: her family has gained respect from those who matter most, the people of the village. To He Liyi, another development seems to be at least as important as his honorable discharge at retirement. Political realities in China had dictated extreme caution for most of Liyi's life. In 1980 he senses a change: "The rope which tied my thoughts for many years is beginning to fall down. I am becoming brave. If someone asks me something, I no longer tell half and keep half. I tell the asker exacAy and plainly" (p. 225). In fact, that is exactiy what he does through this book. With political constraints relaxing in the 1980s, He Liyi feels free enough to tell about his life "exactly and plainly." Without being shallow, Mr. China's Son makes for easy and enjoyable reading . The book is simple, funny, and sad. It is never boring. Gertraude Roth Li University of Hawai'i ^ ^ m Dennis Van Vranken Hickey. United States-Taiwan Security Ties: From Cold War to Beyond Containment. Westport and London: Praeger Publishers, 1994. x, 196 pp. Dennis Hickey is one of the few American scholars concentrating on Taiwan security issues. In this, he is to be congratulated. Taiwan's security lies at the heart of Sino-American relations. An effective U.S. China policy cannot be put into place unless it addresses the key question ofhow to help Taiwan maintain its self-defense capability without unduly offending Beijing. As Hickey demonstrates, this is no easy task—a moving target, ifyou will—since the relative priority of U.S. interests in Taiwan's security and relations with the PRC are in a state of Aux, almost from year to year.© 1994 by UniversityHickey defines his book as "an introductory study of the complex security reofHawai 'i Pressktionship that exists between the United States and Taiwan." He succeeds in crafting such a book: it is introductory and it does touch upon most of the complexi- 142 China Review International: Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1994 ties ofU.S.-Taiwan security relations. The book's strength is its broad treatment of the subject; the book's weakness is its brevity in discussing some of the complex issues. (In a short book it is difficult to have it both ways.) The organization and content of Hickey's study are straightforward. He provides an extremely briefhistorical overview ofTaiwan, including its recent economic and political development. He devotes several chapters to various aspects of U.S. security ties with Taiwan, including the role of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the August 17, 1982, U.S.-PRC joint communiqué on future American arms sales to Taiwan; American defense technology transfers to Taipei; and the 1992 decision by the Bush administration to sell Taiwan F-16 air defense fighters. Hickey then examines the current PRC military threat to Taiwan, again with a view toward the comprehensive listing of factors rather than an in-depth discussion . He follows this with an ouAine of Airee basic U.S. policy options toward Taiwan in the post-Cold War era, that is, terminate, increase, or reduce U.S. military support. In his concluding chapter, Hickey recommends some modifications— but not basic change—in U.S. policy. He writes in closing: [A]ny change in America's current security commitment to Taiwan may very well prove disruptive to the dynamics ofthe US-PRC-Taiwan triangle. Therefore , the US should maintain its existing security relationship with Taiwan. It is likely that the current policy—albeit ambiguous and contradictory—will continue to serve American interests in a post-Cold War environment. The final section of the book includes several useful appendixes, a good bibliography , and a...

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