U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, recently led a bipartisan delegation of committee members to Taiwan. During a meeting with Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te, Gallagher highlighted a sports analogy Lai had previously used: “If we play a one-on-one game [with China], we could lose, but if we play as … Read more
Is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan tomorrow’s Ukraine war? The parallels between the two cases, where a revisionist power stands poised to pounce on a vulnerable neighbor, make it a scenario that is now feared by many. Sometimes, an invasion of Taiwan by China is even treated almost as a foregone conclusion, a question of … Read more
It’s been a month since Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won Taiwan’s presidential election. Since then, there have been a number of cross-strait developments – even though much of that time was taken up by the Lunar New Year, one of the most significant holidays for Taiwan and China. China was, unsurprisingly, … Read more
The world was watching the events in the run-up to Taiwan’s elections with some trepidation. This anxiety has not subsided following the announcement of the election results on January 13, as peace and security in the Taiwan strait remain as uncertain as ever. Prior to the elections, China made it absolutely clear that it did … Read more
On the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leader’s Meeting in San Francisco last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Joe Biden that Taiwan is the “biggest” and “most dangerous issue” between the United States and China. In response, Biden asserted the U.S. commitment to defending “Indo-Pacific allies.” Should the U.S. … Read more
When U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold their much-anticipated summit this evening, the question of Taiwan will loom large. For decades, all three sides have solved the problem between them by effectively shelving it, but that may not be a viable option for much longer. Preserving the status quo has been … Read more
In this photo provided by Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, a PLA J-16 fighter jet aircraft from China flies in Taiwan’s ADIZ on Oct. 4, 2021. Credit: Ministry of National Defense, ROC (Taiwan) Advertisement China’s military sent 103 warplanes toward Taiwan in a 24-hour period in what the island’s Defense Ministry called a recent new high. The … Read more
Advertisement China is promoting new economic opportunities for Taiwanese people while at the same time ramping up military activity around the island it claims as its own. Experts say the “carrots and sticks” approach, which Beijing has employed for years, signals a choice between peaceful “reunification” and military aggression ahead of a Taiwanese presidential election … Read more
Advertisement It has been a year since then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Taiwan, despite China’s protests and threats of retaliation. Pelosi marked the anniversary of the visit by issuing a statement reiterating her “solidarity” with the people of Taiwan and calling Beijing’s approach to the self-governed island “cowardly.” As we noted in these … Read more
Advertisement As China increases its support across all the elements of national power – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic – for the military junta that seized power in Myanmar in February 2021, the United States must take a proactive approach to counter its growing influence in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. I argue here … Read more