China’s menacing behavior toward Taiwan should terrify the international community. First, the island is indispensable for world’s tech industry, and according to a Bloomberg Economics estimate, a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could cost the global economy $10 trillion—about 10 percent of global GDP. Second, a conflict over Taiwan would create geopolitical fallout, and a Chinese victory would upend the current world order. Lastly, Taiwanese freedom matters, and the example of Asia’s top-ranked democracy would be lost if Beijing coerced 23 million Taiwanese into servitude. The United States therefore needs to create layers of deterrence among democratic allies and partners to deter China.

Executive Director of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation Jonas Parello-Plesner, author of The Battle for Taiwan, will join Hudson’s Patrick Cronin to discuss Taiwan’s importance to the US and the world.