The most urgent task in improving Taiwan's military preparedness is not buying or developing weapons to destroy the Three Gorges Dam or Luqiao military airbase in Zhejiang. Rather, the strategic priority is to build a complete civil and psychological defense system to maintain public morale during a war.
When it comes to national defense, some things can be both said and done (setting up air and sea superiority and anti-amphibious landing policies). Some can only be said but not done (calling for nuclear weapons programs). Still others can only be done but not said (building information warfare capabilities). The idea of offshore engagement is none of these. It can neither be said nor done. I hope the new government and the military will hearken to their consciences and professionalism and speak less of offshore engagement.
Logically, there is only one way to prevent a war from spreading to Taiwan: prevent its outbreak in the first place.
Chung Chien is a professor in the department of nuclear science, National Tsinghua University.
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