Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Richard Bush and Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael O’Hanlan yesterday in Taipei launched the Chinese version of a book they authored in 2007 titled A War Like No Other — The Truth About China’s Challenge to America.
Bush, currently a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of its Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, said the book was not only about cross-strait relationships, but also the rise of China in the 21st century and what it means to the US.
“[We] came to a rather optimistic conclusion with a pessimistic sub-conclusion. That is, in most areas, potential cooperation between the US and China was pretty good,” he said. “It requires a lot of work, but there are reasons to be optimistic. The one place where we have some worry [where] there was possibility the US and China come into conflict … was over the Taiwan Strait issue.”
“What will determine what kind of great power China will be is the natural of [its] interaction with the US on a number of specific issues day in and day out, including Taiwan,” he added.
He said he hoped the US and China could find ways to improve the quality of their interactions and reassure each other that the rise of China would not come at the expense of the US and China would not see the US contain China while promoting its interests.
If there was a war between Taiwan and China, O’Hanlan said the US would worry more about a Chinese blockade of Taiwan than China launching an amphibious assault operation on Taiwan. The blockade may include missile attacks and cyber attacks, and could be a more likely scenario and more difficult for the US and Taiwan to deal with, he added.
Regarding Taiwan’s defense capability, O’Hanlan said that F16C/D fighter jets and anti-submarine capabilities would be key military priorities in response to the modernization of the Chinese military.
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