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Home / China-Taiwan / Trump and ‘strategic ambiguity’ over Taiwan
China‑Taiwan, Asia, Basing and global posture, China, Military analysis

September 14, 2026

Trump and ‘strategic ambiguity’ over Taiwan

Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow there, wrote earlier this year that the United States should “replace strategic ambiguity with an explicit policy of nonintervention” while “restructuring” its military in ways that would prove less provocative to Beijing. Last week, she published a widely-discussed further report, arguing that the United States should do less to defend Taiwan, pulling back from its front-line position along the first island chain, which includes Taiwan and Japan. These used to be fringe arguments, but they are becoming more mainstream in Trump’s Washington.

Read at Foreign Policy

Featuring

Jennifer
Kavanagh

Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis

Defense Priorities

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