enduring legacy or achievable objective?

The real Taiwan problem

I am delighted that Dr. Bernard Cole, Professor Emeritus at the National War College and currently at the Center for Naval Analyses, will be our inaugural chat speaker in ActionsCreateConsequences on Friday, 3 March between 1200-1315 Eastern time. I hope you will consider joining substack and this event both to hear his analysis of ‘Why China Would go to War’ and to ask your burning questions. Details to follow.

Taiwan is at the root of Chinese and U.S. anxieties in today’s Pacific. An island, settled a couple of thousands of years ago by peoples from Southeast Asia, just a smidge beyong a hundred miles off the coast of Fujian Province on the mainland, Taiwan is mountainous, prone both to deadly earthquakes and typhoons, and difficult to invade. Its western shores are actually a long line of mudflats which would gum up any traditional amphibious landing while the northeast coast is sheer cliffs offering some haven against forces bent on bringing the island to submission through this technique but China is developing a panoply of other applications of its military. The southeast is a little more open but the overall assessment of many military is that landing a force to come ashore would be challenging. U.S. military planners in the