Policy Forum 

# The Military Balance in the Indo-Pacific, with and Without Taiwan 

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Date and Time 

November 6, 2025 11 AM - 12:30 PM EST 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

![Jonathan D. Caverley](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-10/jonathan-d-caverley.jpeg?itok=zoZTmUcV) 

Jonathan D. Caverley 

Visiting Senior Fellow for Defense and Military Analysis, IISS-Americas

![Evan B. Montgomery](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-10/evan-montgomery-circle.jpeg?itok=doRUuMrV) 

Evan B. Montgomery 

Vice President for Research and Studies, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

[![Evan Sankey - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-08/2015-06-12-Cato%20Institute-Evan%20Sankey--cropped.jpg?itok=OUint3Re)](/people/evan-sankey) 

[Evan Sankey](/people/evan-sankey)

Policy Analyst, Cato Institute

[ 

](mailto:esankey@cato.org) 

The prospect of a Chinese invasion and conquest of Taiwan is a major focus of US–China security competition. Apart from its political, economic, and moral consequences, some US experts argue that Chinese control of Taiwan would compromise the US military position in Asia, bolstering the case that the United States should commit its military to defend Taiwan’s autonomy. Jonathan Caverley and Evan Montgomery will discuss the stakes of the US commitment to Taiwan, whether preserving Taiwan’s autonomy justifies risking conflict with China, and the relationship between Taiwan and the broader military balance in the Indo-Pacific.

**Lunch to follow.**

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).