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The Myth of War in the Taiwan Strait: Elite Perspectives from Beijing, Taipei, and Washington amid the Yizhou Dilemma proposes a new framework of the “Yizhou dilemma” to capture the conundrum faced by a hegemony (the U.S.), a rising power (Mainland China), and the weaker third entity (Taiwan) crucial to the rising power’s ascendance. Taiyi Sun and Dennis Lu-Cheng Weng, drawing evidence from the assessments and perceptions of directly involved elites from Beijing, Taipei, and Washington, argue war is not imminent, yet action or inaction by each party could potentially lead to detrimental outcomes. For the rising power, overexpansion incurs significant costs, but restraint makes it unable to attain “major power status.” Consequently, low-cost symbolic shows of force are more likely than a full invasion of the third entity. For the strategically vital yet relatively weaker entity, asserting autonomy and independence to put up a fight would risk escalating tension and trigger aggressive behaviors from the rising power. Yet, maintaining the status quo would allow the rising power to continue strengthening itself so that a coerced unification unfavorable to the weaker entity could become more probable. For the hegemony, leaving more looming challenges elsewhere unresolved could diminish the power of the hegemony, but getting involved leads to even more challenges.
Published | Dec 15 2024 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 212 |
ISBN | 9781666965001 |
Imprint | Lexington Books |
Illustrations | 7 BW Photos, 23 Tables |
Dimensions | 229 x 152 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
In this innovative book, The Myth of War in the Taiwan Strait, Taiyi Sun and Dennis Weng draw insights from a strikingly similar conflict during the ancient Three Kingdoms period. Deploying rarely accessible interviews and surveys, they uncover what US, mainland China, and Taiwan each must weigh in their decisions on war.
Yong Deng, U.S. Naval Academy
Prevailing policy discourse on the acute danger of war over Taiwan remains one-sided and myopic. Professors Sun and Weng provide an important counter argument based on close assessment of a comparable crisis in China’s past along with analysis of recent surveys of elite opinion in Taiwan, mainland China and the United States. The supporting prefaces of Ma Ying-jeou, Jia Qingguo and Richard Bush are noteworthy.
Robert G. Sutter, professor of International Affairs, George Washington University
Move over, Thucydides! To western scholars asserting that war in the Taiwan Strait is likely because Sparta and Athens got into a war 2400 years ago, this book offers a sensible riposte: isn’t China’s own history at least as relevant? And shouldn’t you learn some of it? Drawing on elite interviews, public opinion surveys – and yes, important examples from China’s own turbulent history – Taiyi Sun and Dennis Weng push back against the prevailing sense of doom and gloom to present an original and nuanced assessment of the prospects for peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Kharis Templeman, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
The Myth of War in the Taiwan Strait should be required reading for anyone interested in cross-Strait relations. Professors Sun and Weng make adept use of historical parallels, novel survey data, and interviews with elite policymakers to produce a nuanced assessment of the prospects for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Their important study belongs on bookshelves next to Richard Bush’s Difficult Choices, Scott Kastner’s War and Peace in the Taiwan Strait, and Ketian Zhang’s China’s Gambit.
Michael A. Hunzeker, Associate Professor, Schar School of Policy & Government
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