EAST ASIA PEACE & SECURITY |
Our primary mission is educating the public, policymakers, and journalists on the changing regional security architecture, as well as contributing policy analysis and commentary to inform the U.S. approach to regional affairs. In particular, we focus on PRC-Taiwan relations and the role of the U.S. in that relationship, as well as how the evolving PRC-Taiwan-U.S. dynamic can shape regional issues involving the U.S. and the PRC such as the Korean Peninsula, the East and South China Seas, and so on.
This value-free website contains two e-books and a third one is in progress. We include a number of photographs we have taken in China, Taiwan, and North Korea. The website publishes several evolving blogs about recent Northeast Asia issues, but focuses primarily on the impact on China-Taiwan-U.S. relations. Under “Cross-Strait Relations”, you will find a useful Chronology of China-Taiwan-U.S. interactions which is supported by a collection of official documents in English and Chinese. We also built country profiles of the four major actors: China, Taiwan, U.S. and Japan. In this section, we identify “Key Issues" that cover areas of cooperation and conflict between the major actors. Finally, this section offers additional resources that could be useful in any in-depth analysis of these topics. Recently we added a new section to include “Other Regional Issues” - the THAAD problem, the discussion of Tactical Nuclear Weapons on the Peninsula, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and evolving China-Taiwan-Vatican ties. |
E-BOOK: STRAIT TALKTaiwan’s current insistence on China’s democratization is not without reason. China’s communist system has shown repeatedly that it cannot cope with the succession issue. |
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Just knowing that nearly all Chinese military actions are designed more for the political consequences than for military results will help to predict future military actions and to prevent serious miscalculations in a future conflict. Taiwan is not like Hong Kong. China could have recovered Hong Kong at any time during the past fifty years through military means, but they did not. They could also have accomplished a takeover through non-military means. They could literally have cut off Hong Kong's water. China cannot easily recover Taiwan by military means without destroying all they are trying to recover. Further, unification as a result of military means would result in a part of China that would continue to feel intimidated and oppressed as if by an alien power. It would create another area, like Tibet and Xinjiang, that would be a source of perpetual dissent and potential uprising. |
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The PRC's "One China Principle" contains the legal right to use force against Taiwan to resolve issues, while the U.S.'s "One China Policy" also asserts the lawful right to deter the PRC’s use of force against Taiwan. Both the PRC and the U.S. claim these rights are grounded in international law and embed these rights in their domestic laws. |
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