Taiwan’s growing defense preparations might be sending a stronger signal to the US than to Beijing, highlighting the need for Taipei to tailor its deterrence efforts to different audiences, a US security academic said yesterday.Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies fellow Oriana Skylar Mastro made the comment during a Taipei Security Dialogue panel examining lessons Taiwan could draw from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.Mastro said she was impressed by Taiwan’s increased defense spending, emphasis on asymmetric capabilities and efforts to prepare society for conflict, but questioned whom those initiatives were influencing.
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, front center, and American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene, front, third right, pose for a photograph at the Taipei Security Dialogue yesterday.
She said when she asked senior Chinese figures and analysts whether Taiwan’s improving capabilities were making Beijing more cautious, their responses generally amounted to: “We don’t really know. We’re not paying attention to that. That’s not the point.”Although Taiwan’s efforts contributed to improved deterrence, “the audience is the US,” she said.
