Meeting Taiwan’strongsstrong Self-Defense Needs - Amazon S3.pdfVIP

No. 2379 February 26, 2010 Meeting Taiwan’s Self-Defense Needs Dean Cheng Abstract: The United States is the provider of both tangi- ble security and political stability to the Taiwan Strait. Given China’s ongoing military buildup, particularly Talking Points toward Taiwan, it is essential that the United States pro- • The United States needs to provide military vide Taiwan with the physical and political means to resist assistance as well as political support to the capacity of the Chinese military to alter the political Taipei that will allow it to make its own deci- status quo. This should include continued U.S. arms sales sions, not under duress from Beijing. to Taiwan and maintaining a robust U.S. military capabil- • The People’s Republic of China has directed ity in the region. significant resources to the People’s Libera- tion Army (PLA), acquiring various capabili- ties that would facilitate forcible unification In furtherance of the policy set forth in section of the island with the mainland. Furthermore, the PLA has spent significant intellectual cap- 3301 of this title, the United States will make avail- ital developing the doctrine needed to use able to Taiwan such defense articles and defense those resour