Ron DeSantis Says Deterrence Key to Preventing Taiwan Conflict

EXCERPT:

DeSANTIS: “And I think what makes them a significant threat is, they’ve been able to make themselves -- partially because U.S. policy facilitated this -- the biggest industrial power in the world. So, the things that we do in the United States, like, our nuclear arsenal depends on parts and things made in China, and so we’ve put ourselves in -- not just the U.S., but other democracies -- have put ourselves in a vulnerable position vis-à-vis China. You know, Xi clearly wants to take Taiwan at some point. You know, he’s got a certain time horizon. He could be emboldened to maybe shorten that horizon, but I think ultimately, what I think China respects is strength. And so, if Japan’s doing what it needs to do, if the United States is doing what it needs to do, you’re going to be in a position where you’re going to color their calculation. And it’s a huge risk to attempt something like that. There’s a huge amount of ways that that can go wrong for President Xi, so I think our policy should really be to shape the environment in such a way that really deters them from doing that, I think if they think the costs are going to outweigh whatever benefits, then I do think that they would hold off. That should be our goal."

(Via Nikkei Asia)