Already, the mainland has 200 missiles aimed at Taipei, with the ability to add about 50 more each year. And it has a navy that it is steadily upgrading, such as with the purchase of two 8,000-tonne Sovremenny destroyers from Russia. Against all this and more, Taiwan has a fleet of rusting submarines that might have come straight out of a World War II movie and scant defences against the communists' own submarines. What it wants it must get, and no one can have a say. More disturbingly, though, it raises questions whether Washington understands that a Beijing that perceives of a weaker Taiwan leaves the region at greater risk of conflict.
Peace is a matter of one side's ability to give the potential aggressor second thoughts.