Install
China and Taiwan blog
Six Arguments Against a Strong Navy, and Why Each One Sinks Carriers are obsolete, sea power is a relic, allies can cover for us. Six objections stated at full strength and answered from the record of sea power. An International Tribunal Ruled Against China in 2016 and Beijing Shrugged A five-judge tribunal demolished the nine-dash line in 2016, and China ignored it, which tells us what law is worth without power behind it. When Clinton Sent Two Carrier Groups to the Taiwan Strait in 1996 The 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis showed the value of a show of force and taught Beijing a lesson that shaped its military buildup for decades. The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 Is Not a Treaty, So What Does It Promise When Carter ended the defense treaty with Taiwan, Congress wrote a statute to keep the commitment alive; here is what the Act does and does not oblige. The Shipbuilding Gap with China Is an Industrial Story Before a Navy Story A navy is only as large as the yards that build and repair it, and a nation that stopped building commercial ships cannot surge warships.