Episode Notes:

What if American military planners are missing the mark on a contingency with China over Taiwan because they're painting Beijing with the wrong brushstrokes? In his latest commentary for War on the Rocks, Charles Gehrke argues that Washington may be misreading Beijing’s motives on Taiwan entirely. For China’s leaders, he contends, Taiwan isn’t just a strategic prize but an open wound, a matter of political trauma tied to the country’s sense of its own history. Deterrence built on American assumptions about Chinese thinking could fail when it matters most. To get it right, Gehrke says, the United States must first understand how China sees itself.

Image: The White House via Wikimedia Commons