{"id":45412,"date":"2019-02-13T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=45412"},"modified":"2019-02-12T19:00:26","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T08:00:26","slug":"the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Paul Dibb, in his recent Strategist<\/em> post<\/a>, writes that America\u2019s strategic position in Asia would be fatally undermined if it didn\u2019t go to war with China if China attacked Taiwan, and that Australia\u2019s alliance with America would be fatally undermined if we didn\u2019t then go to war with China too. The conclusion he draws is that, in the event of an unprovoked Chinese attack on Taiwan, America should go to war with China, and so should Australia.<\/p>\n

I think Dibb\u2019s premises are correct, but his conclusion is wrong. Failing to come to\u00a0Taiwan\u2019s aid would seriously weaken and perhaps destroy America\u2019s position in Asia, and our alliance with America would be seriously weakened if not destroyed if we failed to support the US. But it doesn\u2019t follow that either America or Australia should therefore go to war with China to defend Taiwan.<\/p>\n

That depends on who would win the war. Such a war, like any war, would be a calculus of uncertainties, but at the very least one could say that a swift, cheap and decisive US victory over China would be very unlikely. America\u2019s military power is very great, but China\u2019s military power, and especially its capacity to deny its air and sea approaches to US forces, has grown sharply, and is now formidable.<\/p>\n

China also has big advantages of location and resolve: Taiwan is closer to China than to America, and it matters more to the Chinese. And any hopes that US nuclear forces would swing the balance back America\u2019s way run up against China\u2019s capacity to retaliate in kind, and the risk of a nuclear exchange targeting US cities would at least have to be considered by US leaders in deciding to go to war.<\/p>\n

These sombre facts would have to be taken into account in Washington and Canberra in any deliberations about war. They imply that the choice in both capitals would not be the simple one that Dibb suggests\u2014a choice between going to war and preserving the US-led order in Asia or stepping back and destroying it. A long, costly and indecisive US\u2013China war would destroy the regional order anyway, because America\u2019s leadership in Asia wouldn\u2019t survive a war with China.<\/p>\n

Most probably it would lead to America\u2019s withdrawal from Asia\u2014just as its long, indecisive but far less costly wars in the Middle East have led it to withdraw from that region. If so, Australia\u2019s alliance with America would wither too. So the real choice Washington would face would be to abandon its position in Asia by fighting China, or by not fighting China. Given the cost and risks of war with a nuclear power, it is easy to see which America should<\/em> choose, and I think probably would<\/em> choose.<\/p>\n

Dibb\u2019s counterargument is that America was willing to fight a nuclear war to save West Germany from the Soviets in the Cold War. That\u2019s a compelling argument to the extent that China\u2019s ambitions today pose as big a threat to America as the Soviets\u2019 did in the Cold War. It was the fear that the expansion of Soviet power would threaten the survival of America itself which drove US leaders and voters to accept the risk of nuclear war to make containment work. I don\u2019t think that China poses a similar threat today, which is why I don\u2019t think America should fight China over Taiwan.<\/p>\n

But do Americans believe that China poses a similar threat today? That\u2019s actually the big question that underlies the entire future of America\u2019s position in Asia in the face of China\u2019s ambitions, and it deserves closer scrutiny. So far it seems not, because for all the tough talk from Vice President Mike Pence and others in recent months, no US political leader has tried to convince Americans that they should be willing to fight a nuclear war with China. Indeed, US policy as set out in the 2018 nuclear posture review<\/a> doesn\u2019t even acknowledge America\u2019s vulnerability to Chinese nuclear forces. We\u2019d be wise not to assume that the Americans would risk a nuclear war with China until they say they are willing to do so.<\/p>\n

If this is wrong and America chose war, I think it\u2019s clear that Australia would be better off staying out of it. Iraq should have taught us that it makes no sense to support an ally in a war it can\u2019t win, and the stakes are much higher this time.<\/p>\n

Finally, a minor point. Whether our commitments under the ANZUS treaty cover Taiwan is not quite as clear as Dibb suggests. No doubt Washington believes that it does, and clearly expects us to support the US in a conflict. To the contemporary policymaker this is what matters, which is why I agree with Dibb that failing to support America would be fatal to the alliance.<\/p>\n

But that requirement is not evident in the text of the treaty itself, at least as interpreted by the foremost legal authority on the matter, J.G. Starke, in his book The<\/em> ANZUS Treaty Alliance<\/em>. He says it\u2019s clear from the context that \u2018Pacific Area\u2019 in Article 4 doesn\u2019t include Taiwan, because Australia didn\u2019t want it to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Dibb, in his recent Strategist post, writes that America\u2019s strategic position in Asia would be fatally undermined if it didn\u2019t go to war with China if China attacked Taiwan, and that Australia\u2019s alliance with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":45414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[131,17,52,392,31],"class_list":["post-45412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-anzus","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-taiwan","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paul Dibb, in his recent Strategist post, writes that America\u2019s strategic position in Asia would be fatally undermined if it didn\u2019t go to war with China if China attacked Taiwan, and that Australia\u2019s alliance with ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T19:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T08:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hugh White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hugh White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":558,\"caption\":\"The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), foreground, leads a formation of Carrier Strike Group Five ships as Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft and Navy F\/A-18 Hornet aircraft pass overhead for a photo exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 in the Philippine Sea Sept. 17, 2018. The biennial, U.S. only, field-training exercise focuses on integration of joint training among the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. This is the seventh exercise in the Valiant Shield series that began in 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erwin Miciano)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/\",\"name\":\"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-12T19:00:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-12T08:00:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/16c5d4163e19210aec96b521303f308a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/16c5d4163e19210aec96b521303f308a\",\"name\":\"Hugh White\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50fc19efe542c3d09a829c31ee300a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50fc19efe542c3d09a829c31ee300a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hugh White\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hugh-white\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist","og_description":"Paul Dibb, in his recent Strategist post, writes that America\u2019s strategic position in Asia would be fatally undermined if it didn\u2019t go to war with China if China attacked Taiwan, and that Australia\u2019s alliance with ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2019-02-12T19:00:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-12T08:00:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":558,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hugh White","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hugh White","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/1202carriergroup.jpg","width":780,"height":558,"caption":"The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), foreground, leads a formation of Carrier Strike Group Five ships as Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft and Navy F\/A-18 Hornet aircraft pass overhead for a photo exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 in the Philippine Sea Sept. 17, 2018. The biennial, U.S. only, field-training exercise focuses on integration of joint training among the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. This is the seventh exercise in the Valiant Shield series that began in 2006. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erwin Miciano)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/","name":"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-02-12T19:00:15+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-12T08:00:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/16c5d4163e19210aec96b521303f308a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-us-shouldnt-go-to-war-with-china-over-taiwan-and-nor-should-australia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The US shouldn\u2019t go to war with China over Taiwan\u2014and nor should Australia"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/16c5d4163e19210aec96b521303f308a","name":"Hugh White","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50fc19efe542c3d09a829c31ee300a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d50fc19efe542c3d09a829c31ee300a4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hugh White"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hugh-white\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45412"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45419,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45412\/revisions\/45419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}