Confrontation with the United States } 627
Air operations established air superiority over the landing zone while water
obstacles were cleared by ship and helicopters. Helicopters and two hundred
landing craft then ferried assault forces ashore. Those forces regrouped and
expanded the beachhead, preparing the way for the landing of a second wave.
Simulated enemy counterattacks on the beachhead were beaten off. These
were reportedly the largest exercises the PLA had ever conducted across from
Taiwan. Following these exercises, the CIA set up a special task force to moni-
tor China’s activities in the Strait on a round-the-clock basis. The US Chiefs
of Staff also began contingency planning for response to various levels of
Chinese escalation, up to and including use of nuclear weapons.^24
By late 1995, PLA military demonstrations seemed to be having an impact
on Taiwan politics. There was increasing crisis within Lee Teng-hui’s ruling
KMT, with traditionalists increasingly vocal in opposing Lee’s departures
from the party’s traditional approach to unification. In September, seven
prominent KMT leaders withdrew from the party and declared their opposi-
tion to Lee’s reelection as president. They pointed to PLA exercises as evidence
of the reckless and dangerous nature of his new approaches, such as talking
of two equal political entities or governments. Elections for the Legislative
Yuan on December 2 saw Lee’s KMT lose seven seats, with its share of the
total vote falling to 46 percent from the 53 percent during the previous LY
election in 1993. The New Party, formed largely of ex-KMT members opposed
to Lee Teng-hui’s approach to cross-Strait relations, won 12 percent of LY
seats in spite of that party’s being only two years old. PRC media reported
extensively on the deepening divisions in Taiwan’s politics, damning Lee as a
“100 percent traitor” and lauding his traditionalist opponents. Taiwan’s lead-
ers seemed to be coming to their senses.
In mid-December, US leaders decided that PLA maneuvers had become
large and aggressive enough that a military counterdemonstration would be a
prudent measure, possibly deterring further PLA demonstrations that could
lead to a military clash. A navy aircraft carrier battle group built around the
USS Nimitz was therefore ordered to transit the Taiwan Strait on its way from
Japan to the Persian Gulf. This was the first such passage since the normal-
ization of Sino-US relations in January 1979. In order to avoid public em-
barrassment of China’s leaders, however, the Nimitz passage was kept very
low-profile. It was not announced until six weeks later, at the end of January
- At that time, it was explained as a function of bad weather, necessitat-
ing use of an unusual route. PLA intelligence almost certainly monitored the
ship’s passage through the Strait. Beijing did not back down in the face of
the Nimitz demonstration. Rather, it moved ahead with even more aggressive
exercises. Beijing and Washington were becoming locked into a pattern of
escalating military demonstrations.
Taiwan’s first-ever direct and popular presidential election was scheduled
for March 23, 1996. This election marked a major turning point in Taiwan’s