ChinaTalk: The New Normal in the Taiwan Strait

This ChinaTalk sets out to give an assessment of the security situation and the evolving military balance in the Taiwan Strait following the visit in early August of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to Taiwan. The comprehensive Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as well as the careful, but firm, US and Taiwanese responses indicate how “a new normal” is being established in the Taiwan Strait characterized by a higher level of security tension and military presence and activities. It is more unstable with few remaining conflict management mechanisms in place. There are upcoming domestic events and developments in both China and the US as well as in Taiwan that hold dangerous potential. The talks ends with a discussion of how to manage the more unstable situation and thus avoid a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Camilla T. N. Sørensen, Ph.D. and Associate Professor at the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College (RDDC). Her research fields include Geopolitics, Security Studies and Strategy with a specific focus on China, East Asia and the Arctic. She has lived in China for shorter and longer periods over the past 20 years and has published extensively on East Asian security, Chinese foreign and security policy and in recent years on Arctic politics and security with a focus on China.

Read more and sign up for the event here