Taiwan is "peripheral" to our interests, Michael Anton says over and over again, here.
Well then, so is Hawaii.
Keep thinking like that and eventually Catalina Island becomes peripheral, too.
If you want to legitimize China's nine-dash line, something he never mentions, giving up Taiwan is the fastest way to do it.
There is MUCH more at stake than Taiwan's relative freedom and independence. All of southeast Asia is at risk if China retakes Taiwan.
The answer isn't to accept the fact, as Anton does, that our Navy is rotten to the core and unable to defend Taiwan. The answer is to reform the Navy before it's too late.
If the Chicoms kill all our woke Navy in a battle over Taiwan, that wouldn't be the start we want, but it would be a start to the reform we most need.
