U.S. forces in Taiwan—a massive risk, minuscule military benefit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 7, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Marines and special operations forces have been deployed in Taiwan and training forces there for at least a year. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:

“For a minuscule military benefit in training Taiwanese forces, the U.S. runs the risk of further poisoning relations with China and potentially even getting dragged into an avoidable war that could go nuclear.

“Nor are U.S. troops in Taiwan a tripwire that will deter China from attacking. If China is motivated and aggressive enough to risk attacking Taiwan, it is doubtful that they will be cautious enough see killing a few U.S. Marines as a reason not to. It’s more likely that the troops are an added provocation.

“Rather than keeping U.S. troops in Taiwan, the U.S. should push Taiwan to invest more in its self-defense capacity—especially radar and mobile anti-ship and anti-air missiles, which makes an amphibious attack on the island more costly. Taiwan recently announced new spending in this direction, which is good. But the more U.S. forces seem likely to defend Taiwan, the less urgency they will feel to address their problems internally and up their military spending to a level appropriate to the Chinese threat.”

Author

Benjamin
Friedman

Policy Director

Defense Priorities