In effect, the strategy of the maritime defensive perimeter, which distinguished between greater and lesser priorities, was cast aside in favor of the containment strategy of seeking to deny the communist forces any further advances, wherever they might occur. Although sound strategy reasons could have been advanced for denying the North victory in Korea in order to safeguard Japan and for denying Taiwan to the communist Chinese in order to secure American naval predominance in the west Pacific, these were not the reasons given for the American intervention. The key document that defined American strategy for containment was NSC-68, which had been submitted to president Truman and formally approved by him in September 1950. In the words of its principal architect: