Kuomintang government (KMT)—with its official name Republic of China, R.O.C.—withdrew to the island of Taiwan in 1949, the Taiwan Strait, with an average

In July 1995, the world saw the most serious confrontation between China and Taiwan since the cease-fire between two sides in the late 1950s. After the United States decided to issue visa to Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui to allow him to make a “private” visit to his alma mater, Cornell University, the Chinese government responded immediately by announcing a series of missile tests and military exercises to be conducted in the East China Sea. Although China explained the test was a part of routine military exercises in its “territorial waters,” the actions were clearly intended to retaliate against Lee’s visit to the US. In the next few weeks, the Second Artillery Corps of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted at least three missilelaunching tests from the inland province of Jiangxi. The target area was only eighty-five miles north of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Military analysts believed the missiles launched were M-9 type, a tactical ballistic missile with a range of four hundred miles.