Rising Tensions In Taiwan Strait As China Accuses Taipei Of Cyberattack, More Than 60 Sorties Of Chinese Aircraft Detected

JOHN CULVER is a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. He served for 35 years as a Central Intelligence Agency officer, including as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia from 2015 to 2018.

Nearly a quarter of global maritime trade goes through the South China Sea. In recent years, it’s become the site of clashes between Chinese coast guard ships and Philippine vessels as Beijing tries to exert its claim to virtually the entire sea despite international law.

Foreign investors could once barely imagine that China would invade neighbouring Taiwan, but with Donald Trump as president of the United States, many view it as a tail-risk scenario they must prepare for,

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te voiced his hope for peace with China, but is boosting the country’s defenses amid Beijing’s frosty approach to peace talks. Speaking with reporters while marking his first year in office, Lai echoed the famous dictum of the Roman writer Vegetius: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

The Taiwanese president says trade tensions between the United States and Taiwan are just “frictions between friends.”

Taiwan is slated to commence full-scale production of a cutting-edge missile system next year, military sources reveal. The air defense system, Sky Bow IV (Tien Kung IV), part of the Strong Bow Project,