Deterring a Chinese military attack on Taiwan

ABSTRACT There is a growing risk of a military attack on Taiwan by mainland China (otherwise known as the People’s Republic of China, or PRC) to achieve what the latter terms “reunification.” Taiwan, the US, and Japan must urgently and interactively prepare for this contingency—which is also the best way of deterring it. Taiwan must increase military spending (as it has begun to do), with an emphasis on a “porcupine strategy” of lots of distributed, mobile, survivable, affordable, and lethal weapons. The US must increase its military deployments and joint exercises in the region, again emphasizing the types of weapons that can survive a preemptive PRC attack and counter a Chinese blockade or amphibious invading force. Japan will double defense spending over the next five years in a welcome and transformative move, but effective deterrence requires that it also signal that the collective defense of Taiwan against a military attack is existential for its own security.