The missiles of August

Historian Barbara Tuckman’s account of how this month in 1914 was marked by military mobilizations and maneuvers that set the stage for World War I was called The Guns of August. Welcome to the missiles of August.

In recent days, the Chinese Communist Party has accompanied live-fire exercises effectively blockading Taiwan with ballistic missiles sent over the island. These actions cap months of CCP preparations reportedly aimed at transitioning China’s home front “from normal to war” to achieve Taiwan’s “reunification- by-force” with the mainland.

To date, the Biden administration has ignored repeated appeals from those like our Committee on the Present Danger: China to deter such Chinese aggression by dramatically increasing its risks and costs. Unfortunately, our inaction before this ominous August and in its course will not prevent a kinetic Sino- American conflict, but decrease the odds of our ultimate victory when it comes.

This is Frank Gaffney.