Taiwan’s Urgent Need for Asymmetric Defense

China’s military threat to Taiwan and the role of the United States in addressing it are hot topics in Washington. However, Taiwan’s self‐​defense capabilities are often overlooked and are arguably more important than the US‐​China military balance for deterring a Chinese attack. Unfortunately, Taiwan’s military is not well‐​structured to prevail in an invasion scenario, and it has been reluctant to fully embrace an asymmetric defense strategy that would give it the best chance of success.

In a recent Cato Institute policy analysis, “Taiwan’s Urgent Need for Asymmetric Defense,” Eric Gomez makes the case for Taiwan to specialize its armed forces and adopt an asymmetric defense strategy designed to hold out in two critical military operations that Taiwan will likely be fighting alone, even if the US military intervenes. Gomez lays out a mix of policy changes to push Taiwan toward asymmetric defense while also buying it the necessary time to overhaul its military. Please join our panel of experts to discuss this pressing policy issue.

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