ABSTRACT
At first glance, the assertion encapsulated in the title of this chapter appears at least a paradox, if not a folly. How can marginalizing Taiwan in the international community and making threats against this island weaken the security of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? Indeed, the diplomatic isolation of the Republic of China (ROC), since its expulsion from the United Nations in 1971, has been perceived in Beijing as the best guarantee of preserving China’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty, and thus its external security. This policy is considered by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership as the most successful way of keeping pro-independence Taiwanese in check and of preventing Taiwan from remaining definitively separate from China. The policy includes a strategy to assemble a credible military threat against Taiwan to undermine both its capacity to defend itself and its willingness to remain master of its own destiny.
