Since Chiang Kai-shek's personal diaries were first released for public viewing at the Hoover Institution in 2006, a number of works based on archival research of the diaries have been published, adding greatly to the general understanding not only of the military strongman but also of developments in the tangled relationship between China, Taiwan and the United States. Among the more recent works, Lin Hsiao-tin's Accidental State: Chiang Kai-shek, the United States, and the Making of Taiwan (Harvard University Press 2016) is perhaps one of the best-known titles that examine Chiang Kai-shek's diary. Three years since the release of Accidental State, Pang Yang Huei picks up nicely from where Lin's narration left off, circa the late 1940s and the early 1950s, or when Chiang Kai-shek and the defeated Chinese Nationalist army retreated to Taiwan and started the standoff between China and Taiwan, which continues to this day.

Strait Rituals centres on the decade that immediately followed the Nationalists’ retreat to Taiwan. A close look at the literature on China–Taiwan relations in the 1950s soon reveals a gap in the period studied. Past studies have generally focused on the Korean War and its effects on the Taiwan Strait and the outbreak of the Taiwan Crisis on the frontline of Kinmen in 1958, with scant attention paid to the short intermission in between the crises. This is where Strait Rituals comes in. Set against the background of the opening of the 1954 Geneva Conference for conflict resolution, Strait Rituals paints a picture of the conflicting political calculations and intrigues that characterize the triangular relationship among China, Taiwan and the US. By highlighting the different positions and actions of states with vested interests in Asia, Pang demonstrates how conflicting attitudes in the international community worked to the advantage of Taiwan in staving off Chinese hostilities while steadily acquiring US assistance to the island.

By tapping into archives in China, Taiwan and the US, Strait Rituals reveals the diplomatic intricacies that took place in this short “inter-war” period leading up to the second Taiwan Strait Crisis. Noting the advent of the Cold War, as Pang clearly elaborates in the first chapters of the book, the Taiwan Strait was merely one of many hotspots that concerned major powers. Pang thus reminds us that the Taiwan Strait cannot be perceived as a mere geopolitical issue isolated among the stakeholders – China, Taiwan and the US – but should be seen in a broader light, as involving concerns in Indo-China, Beijing's efforts to court various interests in international politics, and different opinions in the Western camp. In addition, it is worth pointing out here that by bringing the role of Indo-China into the picture, the author is keen to direct the reader's attention to South East Asia, which contrasts with the traditional focus on the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Europe as the main reference points for analysis. Indeed, the reality was that conflicts rolled on in Asia while hard negotiations went on in Europe.

The proposed establishment of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) proved to be critical in the development of China–US–Taiwan relations, as China was specifically concerned by the geopolitical implications of the organization and vehemently opposed its creation, particularly with US support. Besides the comparison with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the geopolitical implication of SEATO was clear. Together with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, in the context of the Cold War, the US would have a line of containment that challenged the security of China. While Chiang Kai-shek's forces in Taiwan might at best be an annoyance for China, and US–Taiwan relations seemed to be tenuous, the fact that Taiwan could potentially serve as a frontline bastille for stationing US forces and perhaps launching an attack against the mainland was a situation that China under Mao could not entertain. SEATO, if successfully set up, could potentially lean towards the US. A US-initiated two-pronged attack from South East Asia – through SEATO – and Taiwan would be the worst nightmare for China. While Pang hints at China's reasons for opposing the establishment of SEATO, it is regrettable that he does not elaborate more.

Beyond chapter five, the second half of the book moves on to address the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis and US–Taiwan relations, turning the focus away from South East Asia. While well written, this topic has been addressed extensively in Chinese and adds little to the stock of existing literature. Nonetheless, by combining developments in South East Asia and the lead up to the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, Strait Ritual offers readers an alternative narrative that tells the story of China–US–Taiwan in one package, weaving together bits and pieces of related studies in Chinese and English. The volume adds to the limited number of available works that look at the history of the Taiwan Strait or cross-Strait relations in the critical years after 1949 and should be commended for that. Strait Ritual is also the only historical work featuring Taiwan among the list of works on China published by Hong Kong University Press over the years. This book adds greatly to the understanding of China–US–Taiwan relations of a semi-distant past and should be perused by serious observers and historians of this triangular relationship.