美臺關係深受美中關係及兩岸關係影響。自2008年馬政府上任後，兩岸關係由緊張轉為緩和，中國大陸對臺採取優惠政策，臺灣則對大陸採取不統、不獨、不武的和中政策；美中關係則是呈現既競爭又合作的局面，美國針對中國大陸提出亞太再平衡戰略，而中國大陸則提出美中應建構新型大國關係做為回應。在上述背景下，馬政府採取親美政策，美國則積極拉攏臺灣，使得美臺關係有所提升，根據本文提出的各項衡量美臺政治、經濟、軍事關係指標及美臺關係各項特殊案例觀察，馬政府第二任內的美臺關係，比起馬政府第一任內的美臺關係有所提升。 U.S.-Taiwan Relations are deeply influenced by Sino-U.S. and cross-strait relations. Since the Ma administration took office in May 2008, the cross-strait relations turns from tension to ease. China implements preferential policy toward Taiwan, while Taiwan takes peace-making policy toward China and implements “no unification, no independent, and no use of force” principles on its China policy. The characteristics of Sino-US relations are competitive and cooperative at the same time. US implements the Asia Pacific rebalance strategy aiming at China, while China responds the US strategy by promoting building “New type of Major Power Relationship” between US and China. Under the above mentioned circumstance, the Ma administration executes pro-US policy and the US actively solicits Taiwan. The policy interaction between US and Taiwan leads to apparent improvement of the US-Taiwan relations. This study not only formulates qualitative and quantitative indicators to evaluate the US-Taiwan political, economic and military relations during the Ma administration, but also scrutinizes special cases of the US-Taiwan relations from May 2012 to May 2016. This study finds that the US-Taiwan relations are better in the Ma administration’s second term than that in the Ma administration’s first term.
