A former top Pentagon official said that Beijing could learn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Dan Blumenthal is the former Senior Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the US Department of Defense. Blumenthal’s analysis came during a recent interview with RTI.
Blumenthal said that China will be monitoring how events in Ukraine unfold and how the West reacts to Russia’s invasion. He said Beijing could use greater coercion to try and convince the US that defending Taiwan is too costly. China could try to get the US to pressure Taiwan into accepting Beijing’s policies. China sees Taiwan as a part of its territory, even though Taiwan has governed itself for over 70 years. China says it has not ruled out taking Taiwan by military force.
Blumenthal said that the US should ready a small military force to aid Taiwan at the first sign of crisis. The force could aid with maintaining communication, protecting Taiwan’s leadership, and building political will.
When asked what the US would do in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, Blumenthal said that the US would likely help defend Taiwan, but he said defending Taiwan would not be easy.
He also said that the US needs to persuade allies to come together to resist China’s aggression against Taiwan.
Blumenthal is currently the Director of Asia Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a prominent think tank in Washington DC, and the author of The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State.