Weatherhead East Asian Institute faculty member Andrew J. Nathan (Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science) delivered a wide-ranging overview of present-day US-China relations over the weekend when he appeared on the Taiwanese foreign affairs program 下班國際線 (The Storm Media).
In a half-hour interview with host Lu Yizhen broadcast on December 20, Professor Nathan acknowledges that the past year has seen a profound realignment of the global order and that "the relative power balance is changing" between China and the United States. In his analysis of the trilateral relationship among the two superpowers and Taiwan, mercurial leadership in the White House makes it hard to predict with any degree of certainty how committed America is to defending the island nation. Professor Nathan expresses his personal opinion that protecting Taiwan is a core interest of the United States, and that deterrence is still the approach that aligns with American interests.
"Deterrence is a search for peace," he says, "and it includes credible threat and credible assurance," with the latter meaning, "You have to reassure Xi Jinping that if he doesn't attack, the Taiwan situation is not going to get worse as he views it."
Elsewhere in the broadcast, Professor Nathan pushes back on the idea that President Xi has set the year 2027 as a deadline for reunification with Taiwan, calling it "misunderstood," and also refers to his 2012 book China's Search for Security (co-written with Andrew Scobell) in explaining the mindset behind decisions made at the highest levels of Chinese government.
Watch the complete interview below:
