[Just The News] Analysts urge strategy to credibly threaten to "render Taiwan not just unattractive if ever seized by force, but positively costly to maintain" by destroying its semiconductor industry.The U.S. military no longer scares Beijing to the degree it once did, so other deterrents must be used, analysts said.
The United States might lose a war against China over Taiwan, and therefore should adopt a "scorched-Earth" plan for Taiwan to destroy its own industries if Beijing attacks, according to analysts writing in a U.S. Army publication.
The recommendations appear in the winter issue of Parameters, a quarterly publication from the U.S. Army War College.
Coauthors Jared McKinney and Peter Harris note that the U.S. military no longer scares Beijing to the degree that it once did.
BLUF:
The best way to forestall a Chinese assault on Taiwan is not via military threats, but by persuading Beijing that an attack would backfire, McKinney and Harris noted.
"The United States and Taiwan should lay plans for a targeted scorched-earth strategy that would render Taiwan not just unattractive if ever seized by force, but positively costly to maintain," the authors wrote. "This could be done most effectively by threatening to destroy facilities belonging to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the most important chipmaker in the world and China's most important supplier."
China also should be warned of potential domestic unrest.
/\ That this is even discussed is still more evidence that We Are Ruled By Morons