On the Brink

Drawing on newly declassified U.S. records and Chinese-language sources, this is the first comprehensive history of Taiwan’s armed forces and their central role in resisting Chinese pressure for more than seventy-five years. It reveals how Taiwan built a resilient military under extreme constraints, forged a lasting U.S. security partnership, and helped shape the island’s democratic transformation. Since 1949, Taiwan’s armed forces have faced the daunting task of defending an island less than one hundred miles from China’s coast against a far larger adversary. Spanning seventy-five years of conflict, deterrence, and adaptation, the military has not only ensured the island’s survival, but has also shaped its political transformation and place in the international system. In On the Brink, author Eric Setzekorn offers the first comprehensive history of Taiwan’s armed forces, situating their experience at the center of debates over security in East Asia. At its core is the account of how Taiwan confronted the threat of the People’s Republic of China and built a credible defense under severe financial, technological, and diplomatic constraints. Military leaders and policymakers sustained deterrence through decades of U.S. assistance and cooperation, creating one of Washington’s most effective and enduring security partnerships. The resilience of this relationship stands in sharp contrast to troubled American efforts in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, highlighting Taiwan as a rare success story in alliance and defense policy. The Taiwanese military reaches deeply into Taiwanese society. Conscription touches nearly all households, veterans shape communities, and the gradual integration of women has reflected broader cultural change. During Taiwan’s democratic transition, the armed forces remained central, influencing debates over citizenship, identity, and reform. Rather than existing apart from society, the military is embedded in the fabric of everyday life and political change. Based on newly declassified U.S. records, Chinese-language sources, and the author’s background as both a U.S. Army officer and historian, On the Brink weaves military, political, and diplomatic history into a unified narrative. It challenges portrayals of Taiwan as a passive object of great-power rivalry, showing instead how its armed forces forged resilience, supported democratization, and sustained deterrence against China for more than three quarters of a century. Accessible yet rigorous, this work speaks to historians of modern East Asia, scholars of security studies, and readers concerned with the future of U.S.-China competition. More than a chronicle of past conflicts, it offers a framework for thinking about deterrence, alliance, and strategy in one of the most contested regions of the twenty-first century.