Keep the status quo for Taiwan

OPINION:

Now more than ever, deterring the Chinese Communist Party’s aggression in the Taiwan Strait is a vital U.S. national interest.

Taiwan is a vibrant, democratic society, and it plays a crucial role in global supply chains. As a steadfast partner of the United States, Taiwan produces the technology Americans use every day, as it makes the chips in our cars, phones, appliances and more. While our country strengthens our supply chains, we must also deter the CCP’s ambitions to control Taiwan, because losing Taiwan to the CCP would destroy the economy and plunge the world into a depression.

The United States firmly opposes unilateral changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. This status quo has created decades of peace and prosperity for Taiwan, the United States and the world at large. The CCP and Xi Jinping want to upend this status quo and take control of Taiwan.

As the CCP’s broken promise of a “high degree of autonomy” for Hong Kong has clearly laid bare, the CCP is a revisionist authoritarian power and cannot be trusted. Xi’s mandate to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) requires China’s military to be prepared by 2027 to take Taiwan by sheer military force. When a dictator says they are preparing to do something dangerous, all of us must take him at his word.

The chilling reality of the CCP’s designs for Taiwan are a clear and present danger to our economy and our security. According to Bloomberg, a war over Taiwan could cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion or roughly 8% of global GDP. If the CCP seizes control of Taiwan, Beijing will be able to dominate and leverage supply chains, market access and maritime commerce that all directly affect the U.S. economy. From Taiwan, the CCP would also have a commanding position along the First Island Chain, immediately threatening U.S. allies such as Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, constraining U.S. military operations and increasing the vulnerability of U.S. territories in the Pacific.

The CCP is increasingly hostile toward Taiwan, launching an average of 2.63 million daily cyber intrusion attempts against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure in 2025, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau said in January. This is a 6% increase from the previous year — with energy and hospital systems experiencing the sharpest rise in attacks. Those are civilian targets — not military targets — and they show that the CCP will target innocent people for its own gain.

American policy and military posturing must deter a full-scale invasion of the island and make any potential military operation there anything but fast, cheap or promising. As chairman of the Select Committee on China, my committee has made bipartisan recommendations for Congress and the executive branch to implement that will strengthen our nation’s own defense and enhance deterrence in the Taiwan Strait.

The most important recommendation is ensuring Taiwan is able to defend itself. If the CCP knows it will face an unacceptable cost if it attacks or blockades Taiwan, it will never attempt to do so. This deterrence will ensure peace and the status quo.

The Pentagon must overhaul its logistics enterprise, engage in robust military and economic planning with Taiwan, and ensure the timely delivery of weapons systems that Taiwan has purchased. America’s defense industrial base must also be revived and strengthened, with more manufacturing and industrial capacity. We need to slash red tape, remove burdensome regulations, and Make America Manufacture Again. We must be able to quickly replenish weapons stocks, build ships and have the resources we need to protect our country and allow Taiwan to buy the weapons it needs to protect itself.

As our country prepares to mark its 250th anniversary this summer, the friendship between America and Taiwan serves as a powerful reminder to the entire world that democracies must stand together. Our commitment to Taiwan is grounded in the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances, cornerstones of a bipartisan policy that has preserved peace and stability for decades.

As the CCP escalates its coercive behavior and aggression against Taiwan, we must rebuild our defense industrial base, work with our allies and like-minded partners, strengthen our defenses against the CCP and ensure the prosperous status quo continues.

• Rep. John Moolenaar, Michigan Republican, is chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.