Sean McFate

Dr. Sean McFate is an author, novelist, foreign policy and national security expert, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. A former U.S. Army paratrooper and private military contractor, he writes and speaks on future war, strategy, mercenaries, and global security.

China Could Pressure Taiwan Into Submission Without Invading

In Defending Taiwan, Eyck Freymann argues that U.S. strategy is too narrowly focused on deterring a Chinese invasion and is underprepared for a gray-zone crisis that could isolate Taiwan without open war. Freymann’s case, developed in discussion with Hoover Institution participants including Philip Zelikow, is that Beijing’s most plausible path may be legal, commercial, and coercive control over Taiwan’s external ties. Deterrence, he argues, will require Washington and its allies to integrate military power with political discipline, economic planning, technological leverage, and diplomatic coordination before such a crisis begins.

Hoover InstitutionMay 14, 202622 min read