ABSTRACT
Global strategists such as Michael Mandelbaum worry that “the most dangerous place on the planet is the Taiwan Strait . . . a tinderbox for war between the United States and China.”1 This chapter explores the insecurity unleashed by China’s proclaimed willingness to use military force. With China a major power of 1.3 billion people and the small island of Taiwan, which is north of the Philippine island chain and south of the Ryukyu island chain of Japan, home to but 23 million, with the Philippines (part of the Association of South East Asian Nations [ASEAN]) and Japan (tied to Australia) both military allies of America, which do not wish to see Taiwan taken by force, a China-initiated war could portend a large catastrophe.
