To deter China from exercising coercive military options against Taiwan and other neighboring countries, a carrot-and-stick policy will be needed.
The carrot side of this policy should consist of the development of productive economic cooperation and political dialogue with China. The major purpose should be to accelerate China's integration into the global economy and to keep military tensions at a relatively low level.
As for the stick, the US and its Asian allies must develop a common approach to the kind of security cooperation they will require in the coming decades. The US and Taiwan must also build a more effective framework for security cooperation to the extent that China will not seek to use coercive military force against Taiwan without being forced to take a credible US deterrent into serious account.
An absence of visible preparations for the use of force on the part of the US and its allies could be taken as a sign that Washington lacks the will or the capability and might encourage Beijing to take action to intimidate Taiwan with military force.
Tsai Ming-yen is an associate research fellow of the division of strategic and international studies at the Taiwan Research Institute.
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