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Taiwan reviews by international and local organizations:

◆  Financial Times, 2024-8-22: Taiwan's top security officials make secret trip to US for talks. The US has grown increasingly concerned about rising Chinese military activity around Taiwan. Some US officials are also privately nervous about Lai, who is inexperienced in foreign affairs and seen as more unpredictable than Tsai. ◆ Atlantic Council, 2024-8-21: The period between delivery and integration is often invisible to the public.  The US should be focused not only on what Taiwan may need to deter and defeat China, but also on what can be quickly integrated into Taiwan's military. ◆  National Public Radio, 2024-8-19: instead of just sending signals to Beijing or just sending weapons, arms to Taiwan, People really want to know whether the U.S. Navy or marine forces will help Taiwan to defend itself ◆ New York Times, 2024-8-21: President Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear plan that reorients America's deterrent strategy to focus on the rapid expansion of China's nuclear arsenal. The Pentagon believes China's stockpiles will rival those of the U.S. and Russia over the next decade.◆  National Interest, 2024-8-17: Tensions between China and Taiwan threaten to boil over. Multiple experts, including this author, believe some kind of major Chinese move against the island democracy is at hand. Instead of mirroring U.S. military capabilities, Taiwan should invest in anti-aircraft defenses, coastal defense batteries, hypersonic weapons, drones, and widespread civilian armament.◆  The i  (UK), 2024-8-16: Emboldened by Russia's actions in Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to use any force necessary to take Taiwan back, putting his military on notice to be ready for a full-scale invasion by 2027, UK and US intelligence agencies understand.◆  Council on Foreign Relations, 2024-8-9: Taiwan's President, Lai Ching-te, has unveiled plans to increase defense spending by nearly six percent.   Taiwan should do all it can to prepare for the worst and mounts a stiff resistance if deterrence fails. To that end, Taiwan's leaders should embrace a new defense spending target of five percent of GDP ( Israel's 2022 defense spending totaled 4.5 percent of GDP) and rapidly meet that goal through yearly double-digit percentage increases ◆  Washington Post, Star and Strips, 2024-8-4: Taiwan's slow progress on boosting training concerns military experts ... Matt Pottinger says that Taiwan needs the political will and foresight to dedicate some of its best military officers to recruitment and instruction. “I'm really hoping that Taiwan makes these sacrifices" ◆  National Interest, 2024-7-30: An invasion would be swift and sharp.  Taiwan spends less as a percentage of GDP on its defense than the US. On top of that, Taiwan does not have a strong draft. Taiwan's politicians likely realize better than Washington that Taiwanese voters may not be as inclined to make the kind of heavy sacrifices that are necessary to defend their freedom as the Ukrainians, Israelis... ◆  Bloomberg, 2024-7-30: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te pledged to work with other democracies around the world to stand up to China, and “continue to push for defense autonomy” and weapons procurement from overseas, his comments likely to deepen his rift with Beijing.◆  Bloomberg (2024-7-24): China squeezes Taiwan by targeting islands and fishing Sites  ──   The Chinese Coast Guard is now “constantly” patrolling east of the median line in the Taiwan strait;  It's likely that China will increasingly harass fishing boats and sightseeing boats to test Taiwan's response,  China's detention of the vessel may also be a subtle test of the US.

◆ New York Times, 2024-7-17: Donald J. Trump said that Taiwan should pay the United States for defending it from China, a remark highlighting the uncertainties — and high stakes — of how he might handle the smoldering Taiwan Strait dispute ◆ Wall Street Journal, 2024-7-18: As if to remind everyone, Mr. Trump is casually signaling that the U.S. might not defend Taiwan from a Chinese assault.◆ New York Times, 2024-7-16: many Taiwanese officials are convinced that their island will be vulnerable unless it quickly steps up preparedness.  some experts argue that the island should lengthen conscription — already extended recently to 12 months ◆ Bloomberg, TIME, 2024-7-11: China sent a record number of warplanes across a U.S.-drawn boundary in the Taiwan Strait—a move that comes as the new president of the archipelago mulls a trip that may include a stop in America ◆ Le Monde, 2024-7-11: Taiwan reports record-high Chinese military aircraft activity in 24 hours ◆ Financial Times (2024-7-10):Experts warn that Taiwan remains woefully underprepared for war. A bigger challenge would be overhauling bureaucratic structures and procedures. War games and other assessments of Taiwan's defence readiness have repeatedly highlighted a lack of co-ordination between different government departments and the civilian and military bureaucracy.

◆ Washington Post, 2024-7-1: China: Taiwan's leadership, along with its supporters in the United States, is pursuing “separation” from China in “incremental” fashion.  ◆ Washington Examiner, 2024-7-2: Xi Jinping's regime is setting the legal and diplomatic table for a crackdown on Taiwan while blaming the United States for the growing possibility of war over the island democracy...  “The Chinese government has the right to expel this regime..."  The ominous rhetoric seems to express in part Xi's displeasure with Lai Ching-Te    ◆ The Atlantic Council, 2024-6-27: Taiwanese officials have rejected not only that interpretation but also Beijing’s claim that Taipei agreed to its view of “one China” when forming the “1992 consensus” at a semiofficial meeting in Hong Kong that year. The 'consensus' term was artificially coined nearly a decade after the meeting. There was no actual consensus, even according to Taiwan’s president in 1992, between Beijing and Taipei about the status of Taiwan with respect to the PRC. ◆ Wall Street Journal, 2024-6-23: Lai Ching-te said he aimed to make Taiwan the “Asian center for the democratic drone supply chain."; Taiwan has the know-how to build its own unmanned aircraft, now it is a question of scale.  The overwhelming majority of the types of small, inexpensive drones that are having the greatest impact on battlefields are made in China  ◆ New York Times, 2024-6-17 : the United States' chief representative in Taiwan advices: Avoid panic about China's combative language and moves, but don't grow numb to the risks. ◆ New York Times, 2024-6-11 : Hardly any nations besides U.S. allies have imposed sanctions on Russia. Isolating China, if it attacked Taiwan, would be an even taller task.  ◆ Washington Post, 2024-6-6:China's gray zone strategy on Taiwan is gathering in intensity; The West must strongly deter — without foreclosing a future reconciliation between Taipei and Beijing ◆ United States Institute of Peace , 2024-6-6:Given Lai Ching-te's tougher line on China and Beijing's unyielding position on Taiwan, it's unlikely that cross-Strait relations will improve or that tensions will lower anytime soon.  Washington should remain laser-focused on helping Taiwan defend itself and deter military conflict.