SOAS Research Online

Abstract

As a crucial part of the US-led Asia–Pacific security framework, and standing against communist expansion, Taiwan and its offshore islands acted as an anti-communist bulwark during the Cold War. Under the prevailing fear of communist infiltration at the height of the Cold War, it is somewhat surprising that the ROC authorities exerted themselves to promote international tourism and opened its door to attract international visitors. In the mid-1960s, as part of the policy to accelerate the promotion of Taiwan’s international tourism, the KMT government published Tourism in Taiwan (1966–1974), one of the most important official tourism magazines. In contrast to all its short-lived predecessors, Tourism in Taiwan mainly targeted one particular group of international visitors – i.e. the American servicemen who came under the American R&R (rest and recuperation) program between 1965 and 1972. Through careful reading of Tourism in Taiwan, this chapter reflects on the complex power relations between its many ‘authors’ in this nation-branding process and also considers how American taste and Cold War order was embedded in the building, (re)imaging, and construction of the island’s ‘tourability.’