Just quickly flagging something that I’m sure you’ll appreciate. Congressman Seth Moulton just spoke at an event where he said:
We should make it very clear to the Chinese, if you invade Taiwan, we will blow up TSMC…of course Taiwanese really don't like this idea
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is the largest maker of advanced industrial chips in the world—a firm that the global semiconductor market depends on. And a firm that US industrial policy has lavished with attention and subsidies so that it would build a manufacturing plant in Arizona.
Why? To ensure a “resilient” supply chain, meaning that if China invaded Taiwan, the United States could still have TSMC manufacturing semiconductors, on US territory.
I would ignore Moulton’s comments as a deranged gaffe except that other policy people who serve the MAGA agenda are endorsing the statement.
And it’s not a new argument. Trump’s National Security Adviser, Robert O’Brien, said the same thing a couple months ago.
This betrays a horrifically poor understanding of deterrence—which is ironic because deterrence is the only thing hawks seem capable of talking about.
It also reveals what everyone should already know—when reactionary pundits and politicos talk about Taiwan, it is as a pawn; an instrument of US power. Nothing more.
Let me explain.