ISSUE 73 JULY 2021
U.S. DEFENSE OF TAIWAN IN THIS ISSUE IAN EASTON • JOSEPH FELTER • ADMIRAL GARY ROUGHEAD CONTENTS July 2021 • Issue 73 EDITORIAL BOARD BACKGROUND ESSAY Will America Defend Taiwan? Here’s What History Says i tor Davis anson, Chair an aston ru e hornton David erke FEATURED COMMENTARY Realism and Deterrence in Cross-Strait Relations ose h elter CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS Taiwan: Time for a Real Discussion eter erkowitz Ad iral Gar oughead osiah unting RELATED COMMENTARY Angelo M Codevilla Taiwan: Deterrence of China Is Failing Ad iral a es llis r Gordon G Chang Put Nukes on Taiwan Niall erguson Angelo M Codevilla Chris Gi son The Defense of Taiwan osef offe Seth Cro se dward N uttwak The Taiwan Question by Edward N. Luttwak eter Mansoor Strategic Ambiguity and the Defense of Taiwan Walter ussell Mead eter Mansoor Mark Mo ar U.S. Resolve Is Taiwan’s Best Defense Willia son Murra by Mark Moyar al h eters The Crucial Importance of Taiwan Willia son Murra Andrew o erts Taiwan Ad iral Gar oughead aul ahe ori S hake Defending Taiwan iron Skinner Andrew o erts arr Strauss Five Reasons Why Taiwan Should Lie within the Defense Umbrella of the United States ing West Miles Mao hun Yu Miles Mao hun Yu EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS Discussion Questions Suggestions for Further Reading
ABOUT THE POSTERS IN THIS ISSUE
Documenting the wartime viewpoints and diverse political sentiments of the twentieth century, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives Poster Collection has more than one hundred thousand posters from around the world and continues to grow. Thirty-three thousand are available online. Posters from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia/Soviet Union, and France predominate, though posters from more than eighty countries are included. Background Essay | ISSUE 73, July 2021
Will America Defend Taiwan? Here’s What History Says By Ian Easton
In December 1949, Chiang Kai-shek moved the capitol of the e u li of China C to ai ei e intended the relocation to be temporary. He had already moved his government multiple times: when the Empire of a an invaded China, when World War ended, and again when Mao Zedong’s Communist insurgents took the u er hand in the Chinese Civil War