The Chinese Communist Party has taken what may be its first step towards imminent military action against Taiwan. If the United States fails to respond decisively and quickly, it invites further aggression on an accelerated basis. 

The CCP has seized on Taiwan’s intercept of a speedboat that fatally capsized near its island of Kinmen, which – along with Matsu – is just off the Chinese mainland. It denies there are “maritime boundaries,” setting the stage for further incursions into those waters and, absent real costs, the blockade or invasion of the two islands, and thereafter of Taiwan, itself.

The opportunity to prevent such a cascading disaster will likely be fleeting. Retired Navy Captain James Fanell correctly argues we must declare such Chinese belligerence a tripwire for our formal recognition of Taiwan and explicit commitment to its defense. We must also secure our own homeland now. 

This is Frank Gaffney.