As Ukraine faces the loss of eastern Donbas, Beijing lays claim to the Taiwan Straits

(Originally published June 14 in “What in the World“) Facing defeat in Donbas, Ukraine has stepped up its request for arms from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to reverse the tide against Russia. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday tweeted a takeout order for 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers. The new request is many multiples what NATO has promised so far. But Europe and the U.S. are now waking up to the Faustian bargain they’ve made in Ukraine: either escalate or be prepared to let Ukraine lose.

Chinese military officials, meanwhile, have recently begun asserting that the Taiwan Straits aren’t international waters, a novel position that suggests regular “freedom of navigation” exercises by U.S. naval vessels in the waters between China and Taiwan could be treated as an act of war. Increasing bellicosity from Beijing about Taiwan, meanwhile, has sparked the autonomous island to reexamine what many say are inadequate defenses against invasion and try to learn from Ukraine’s stubborn resistance to create what is being called a “porcupine defense.”