What Are The Best Ways To Shield Taiwan From A Hungry China? - Breaking Defense

Should America bang out a treaty clearly and unequivocally committing it to the defense of Taiwan? Will Japan, Australia and other allies come to America’s aid should China invade Taiwan? Should the US provide money to help Taiwan buy weapons that the island currently buys from US firms? What is a “porcupine defense,” anyway, and is it the right approach for Taiwan?

Those were among the top issues hammered out Wednesday by a former special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and professor at the National War College, a former top international security official at the Pentagon and an Asia expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

Basically, the three experts agreed that Taiwan needed to beef up its own defense. They agreed that the United States had to exercise caution in how it shaped its deterrence so as not to back China into a corner, leading it to the conclusion it has to act or fail. And they agreed that Taiwan is, ultimately, more important to deterring China than is the US.

“Taiwan needs to establish what sometimes is called an effective ‘porcupine defense,’ a defense that will allow it to defend against an adversary force until support from others would be available,” Frank Kramer, former assistant defense secretary for international security affairs and now an Atlantic Council expert, said in a briefing on how to secure the Taiwan Strait. “Taiwan actually needs to do better than it has done historically; it is improving recently.”

A porcupine defense would allow Taiwan to resist Chinese military coercion with a mix of stockpiled supplies, resilient facilities, sea mines and reliable, shorter-range weapons for a prolonged period without requiring US intervention.