Opinion

Japan must do more, and faster, to avert war over Taiwan

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a center fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Most world leaders, including President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, agree that the defense of Taiwan is crucial for regional security. But most options for improving deterrence will take too long. Building Taiwan’s self-defense, developing more U.S. firepower in the region, creating the economic resilience to make severe sanctions feasible: None of these will come to fruition before 2030.