Please join the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, November 17, from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm (EST) for a virtual public Cross-Strait Seminar on enhancing regional security in the Indo-Pacific.

As China’s provocative military activity towards Taiwan has continued to surge over the past year, the United States and its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific are increasingly exploring options for addressing regional tensions through multilateral regional security frameworks, such as the Quad and AUKUS. Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has welcomed the AUKUS pact as a critical balance against China’s military ambitions, stating that “we are pleased to see that the like-minded partners of Taiwan are working closer with each other to acquire more advanced defense articles so that we can defend the Indo-Pacific”. In addition, senior officials from the United States, Japan, India, and Australia have also recently held discussions through the Quad framework on the importance of maintaining peace and security in the Taiwan Strait.

These developments present key questions for the United States and its allies and partners: How do US strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific align with Taiwan’s national security strategy? What challenges do cross-strait tensions present for the US and its allies and partners in the region, and how should that shape multilateral efforts to discourage China from aggressive military action towards Taiwan in the future? Ultimately, as tensions in the Taiwan Strait continue to evolve into a multilateral issue for countries throughout the region, what steps should the US and its allies and partners take to enhance regional security in the Indo-Pacific?

This timely virtual discussion will address these and other questions facing Taiwan, the United States, and US allies and partners in the region as they work to effectively navigate one of the greatest geopolitical flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific moving forward.

Featuring

Heino Klinck
Founder and Principal, Klinck Global LLC; Senior Advisor, The National Bureau for Asian Research (NBR);
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia

Sarah Kirchberger
Head, Asia-Pacific Strategy and Security, Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University (ISPK); Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Todd Rosenblum
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Moderated by

Barry Pavel
Senior Vice President and Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

The Indo-Pacific Security Initiative works with US, allied, and partner governments and other key stakeholders to shape strategies and policies to mitigate the most important rising security challenges facing the region, including China’s growing threat to the international order and North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear weapons advancements. IPSI also addresses opportunities for cooperation in the region, such as transforming regional security architectures, harnessing emerging technologies, and developing new mechanisms for deterrence and defense cooperation.

Explore the Program