Taiwan still in focus
Recent concerns regarding US President Donald Trump’s 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) have focused on a singular omission: The document does not explicitly name “Taiwan.” Critics might interpret this silence as a signal of wavering US support. On the contrary, a close reading reveals that Taiwan has graduated from being a distinct “problem” to be solved, to serving as the unnamed, but indispensable anchor of the US defense architecture in the Indo-Pacific region.
The strategy explicitly prioritizes a “denial defense” along the “first island chain” to prevent domination by China. It is geographically impossible to construct such a defense without Taiwan, which sits at the chain’s center. As American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene recently clarified in Taipei, Taiwan is the “critical hub” connecting the East and South China seas, and the NDS’ goal to “deny any attempt to seize Taiwan” remains the operational reality, even if implicit in the text.
Furthermore, the new NDS demands a paradigm shift: Allies must cease being “dependencies” and instead meet a global standard of spending 5 percent of GDP on security. Taiwan is answering this call. President William Lai (賴清德) has committed to raising defense spending to meet this 5 percent target by 2030, investing in asymmetric capabilities such as drones and resilient communications that align perfectly with the NDS’ “Peace Through Strength” doctrine.
The absence of Taiwan’s name does not signify an absence of commitment. It signifies the normalization of Taiwan as a capable, responsible partner that is — in the words of the AIT director — building the “will to fight” and the industrial capacity to hold the line. Taiwan is no longer just a ward of US protection; it is a key guarantor of the first island chain.
RADM Lin Chau-luen (Ret.)
Adjunct associate research fellow, Division of Cyber Security and Decision-Making Simulation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research
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