U.S. "Active Denial." to blunt China's punch

 

U.S. "Active Denial." to blunt China's punch

The U.S. needs fewer troops in Japan, more in Australia, and has to make a decisive move away from large-deck aircraft carriers, a group of security experts has suggested.

  Led by the Washington think tank Quincy Institute, the study group has prepared a 300-page strategy report that calls for "Active Denial."

If Beijing were to attempt to take Taiwan by force, the key will be to blunt China's initial punch, the group says, buying time for additional U.S. forces to arrive.

The argument for "denying" China's attempts to take Taiwan by force has been spearheaded by former Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, who wrote a book titled "Strategy of Denial" and also appeared on Nikkei Asia's webinar last Friday.

Colby says the U.S. must defend Taiwan, regardless of the lack of a formal defense treaty, because failure to do so will allow China to dominate Asia and signal that the U.S. cannot be relied on.

But the Quincy study group says the posture in the Asia-Pacific should primarily be defensive, with the goal being to defeat aggression rather than subjugating the adversary.

Proposals include reducing U.S. troop levels in Japan to 44,000 from 55,000 while increasing those in Guam and Australia.

It suggests the U.S. allow Japan to reduce host-nation support and use that money to harden bases around Japan.