20:51:29
Taiwan Should Destroy Its Chip Industry To Deter Chinese Invasion, Says US Military Journal
From IBTimes.com By
Natalie’s Commentary: Before deciding to conduct a catastrophic event in Taiwan, Xi Jinping should carefully consider all of Taiwan’s capable deterrence to protect its Democracy and independence from a genocidal Communist dictatorship like China.
“Taiwan is an island of 23 million people about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off China’s eastern coast, is self-ruled, but claimed by China. The decades-old issue has grown more intense since independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen took the helm in Taiwan in 2016, and China stepped up military pressure on the island, sending ships into nearby waters and fighter jets in its direction.”
“On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, the China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Command announced it had recently conducted landing drills in an undisclosed location in the East China Sea.” Sounds strategically and surreptitiously like planning for a suspicious takeover.
The critical question for Taiwan is whether the United States, which is not sending troops to defend Ukraine, would intervene if China invaded Taiwan. The U.S. has no official ties with Taiwan but has historical relations and sells Taiwan billions of dollars’ worth of weapons. It is also bound by its own law to ensure Taiwan can defend itself.
But more importantly, Taiwan is also the dominant player in the production of semiconductor microchips that are used in everything from smartphones, cars, appliances, calibrating machines and a lot more most people around the world have come to depend on their daily lives, some for convenience, others use for necessary medical tests like a CT Scan, MRI, and ICU machinery. Succinctly noted, Taiwan’s economy and technology is important to the U.S., and perhaps the U.S. will value Taiwan more but we have to see how such a conflict would play out. ~ Natalie
KEY POINTS
- Taiwan is a major player in the production of semiconductors globally
- The paper was penned by US scholars Jared M. McKinney and Peter Harris
- China rejected the claim, saying the reunification was not for TSMCs
“Taiwan should destroy its all-important semiconductor industry if they want to stave off a Chinese invasion. This “scorched-earth strategy” can leave Beijing uninterested in unification as it would create an unwanted major economic crisis on the mainland, said a report published by a U.S. military journal.”
“A top U.S. Army War College paper titled “Broken Nest: Deterring China from Invading Taiwan” says this unique strategy can leave the island “unwantable” for China.”
“The paper that appeared in the quarterly academic journal “Parameters,” was penned by scholars Jared M. McKinney and Peter Harris. It also topped a list of the most downloaded papers of 2021.”
“According to McKinney and Harris, the regional military balance has shifted in China’s favor and a potential war with the US over Taiwan is no longer a deterrent for China.”
“Hence, 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.”
“This could be done most effectively by threatening to destroy facilities belonging to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the most important chipmaker in the world and China’s most important supplier,” the paper read.
“This would create a desperately unwanted major economic crisis in China, leaving it chipless during the war since only six percent ofsemiconductors used in China were produced domestically in 2020.”
“Even when the formal war ended, the economic costs would persist for years. This problem would be a dangerous cocktail from the perspective of the Chinese Communist Party,” the paper added.
The authors indicated that the challenge is to make the “threat credible to Chinese decision-makers” as if China suspects Taipei would not follow through on such a threat, then the deterrence fails.
“An automatic mechanism might be designed, which would be triggered once an invasion was confirmed,” they added.
However, Beijing seems to have rejected the paper and the strategy. An article that appeared on the website of the Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Dec. 23 read that “the mainland’s pursuit of cross-strait reunification is definitely not for TSMC.”
At present, Taiwan is a major player in the production of chips globally. The self-ruled island dominates the market and exports, accounting for more than 60% of total global foundry revenue in 2020.
According to Taiwanese media, the TSMC’s could easily become a “casualty of the fighting” resulting in severing the supply of chips to China’s vast electronics industry. Even if the foundries survive a war, the global supply chain would be affected.