ADVANCING
AMERICAN FREEDOM
August 14, 2024
AAF: Taiwan Today, Guam Tomorrow
TOPLINE: Maintaining Taiwan's independence is essential to America's foreign policy. The U.S. should unapologetically stand with the free people of Taiwan rather than hiding behind strategic ambiguity and dawdling about the CCP's authoritarian quest for world domination.
BACKGROUND: The CCP plans to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Taiwan and China have had a contentious relationship ever since the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1945, which ended with the forced retreat of the nationalist government to Taiwan as the communists took control over mainland China.
Amidst rising isolationist sentiments, National Security conservatives must make the affirmative case to the American people for why the U.S. should defend Taiwan.
America's East Asia strategy runs through Taiwan.
• CCP-controlled Taiwan would isolate our regional allies, leaving them exposed to the CCP.
• CCP control of Taiwan would decimate American credibility and raise the odds of the CCP deploying nuclear weapons against South Korea, Japan, and other East Asian countries.
Taiwan's semiconductors are critical to the economy and America's national security.
• CCP invasion of Taiwan would immediately throw the world's economy into a recession.
• Taiwan produces over 90% of the world's most advanced semiconductor chips, including those used for F-35 fighter jets and satellites.
• Chips are also used in computers, phones, vehicles, navigational and comms systems.
• CCP-controlled Taiwan could refuse to sell these to the U.S., crippling our national security.
CCP wants to dominate the world and will not stop in Taiwan.
• The CCP is actively challenging Japan over the Senkaku and Ryukyu Islands, Russia over their eastern ports, and several nations over the South China Sea.
• CCP plans to use Taiwan as an "unsinkable carrier" to attack American fleets and bases across the Pacific.
Taiwan's thriving democracy is the antithesis of the CCP's authoritarian rule.
• Taiwan has held open elections since 1996.
• The CCP has never held a free and fair election.
BOTTOM LINE: The U.S. must promptly arm Taiwan and encourage it to invest further in its defensive capacity-even as we must continue to rebuild our own military at home-in order to establish effective deterrence against the CCP. Appeasement will always fail. The U.S. must stand up to the CCP today or else find ourselves unprepared to protect U.S. territories and bases in the Pacific tomorrow.
For more information, please contact AAF Policy Director John Shelton at shelton@advancingamericanfreedom.com