Taiwan has been electrified by the example of how well Ukraine’s military and people have united around the goal of pushing back Russia’s invading force even as the war in Eastern Europe has sent a clarifying message to the Taiwanese people that wars of aggression by larger countries against smaller ones are not a thing of the past.
As this reporting series from CQ Roll Call details, the United States and Taiwan are taking steps to deepen their security and economic ties in the hopes of indefinitely forestalling a feared Chinese attack. Still, there are significant differences of views both inside Taipei and in Washington over what types of diplomatic, trade, and military actions will be more likely to stabilize Cross-Strait relations with Beijing and which steps might be viewed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as so provocative as to speed up his suspected timetable for carrying out a blockade or even full-scale invasion of the self-governing island democracy.
Key questions that Taiwanese and U.S. policymakers are wrestling with include: Should the focus be on deterring a Chinese attack or rushing full-out to prepare Taiwan for an invasion? How much time is left before an attack might come? And how can Taiwan and the United States best encourage assistance from friendly Western democracies? The answers to these questions could not be more consequential for the future of continued peace in East Asia—home to some of the world’s largest economies—but also to averting a feared war between China and the United States.
