Webinar | Kinmen & Matsu 2.0: Is Xi About to Pull the Trigger on a Shooting War with Taiwan and Us?

The Chinese Communist Party has taken what may be its first steps toward 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 the latter’s island of Kinmen, which – along with Matsu – is just off the Chinese mainland. Beijing has denied that there are “maritime boundaries” associated with those islands, setting the stage for further incursions into their waters. And, on Tuesday, a China Coast Guard vessel stopped and boarded a Taiwanese tour boat. Absent real costs, the blockade or invasion presumably of both Kinmen and Matsu may now be in the offing, and perhaps thereafter of Taiwan, itself.

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

This CPDDC webinar examines the potential for the islands previously known as Quemoy and Matsu to become once again a potential flashpoint between not only Taiwan and the PRC, but the United States, as well. As the 1960 presidential debates between then-Senator John Kennedy and then-Vice President Richard Nixon illuminated, the level of U.S. attention to the status of these islands can change rapidly. That could be even more true under present circumstances. The implications for U.S. security interests, at home and abroad, of a CCP move to seize Kinmen and Matsu require most urgent attention.

Moderator:

- Frank Gaffney, Founder and Executive Chairman, Center for Security Policy; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China, co-author, “The Indictment: Prosecuting the Chinese Communist Party and Friends for Crimes Against America, China, and the World”

Panelists:

- Steven Mosher, Social scientist; Founder and President, Population Research Center; author, “Bully of Asia” and the forthcoming “The Devil and Communist China: From Mao Down to Xi” –Topic: “The History of Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsu in Taiwan-CCP-U.S. Relations and the Strategic Implications a New Crisis There.”

- Colonel Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), Former Foreign Service Officer; entrepreneur and business executive based in East Asia; author, “When China Attacks: A Warning to America” – Topic: “Will Kinmen and Matsu Provide the Pretext for Xi Jinping’s Wider War with Taiwan and Us?”

- Colonel John Mills, U.S. Army (Ret.), Veteran Special Operator; former Senior Executive Service official responsible for Cybersecurity Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense; former member, the National Security Council staff and detailee to the Department of Homeland Security; host, “The National Security Show”; author, “The Nation Will Follow and War Against the Deep State” – Topic: “Can We Still Deter the Chinese Communist Party at this Late Date and, If So, How?