American officials linked Taiwan’s human rights practices to US arms sales. Leading the US charge was a Democratic congressman from Brooklyn named Stephen Solarz. Born in 1940 in New York City, Solarz had parlayed his opposition to the Vietnam War in 1975 into a congressional seat representing the liberal thirteenth district. In 1980, he became the first American official to visit North Korea since the Korean War. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he involved himself in major events in Asia. He played a key role in the ouster of
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