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Lawfare Daily: Wargaming a Chinese Blockade of Taiwan

Daniel Byman, Mark Cancian
Thursday, September 4, 2025, 10:54 AM
Discussing the implications of a Chinese blockade of Taiwan.

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For today's episode, Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor Daniel Byman interviews Mark Cancian, a Senior Adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to assess the impact and implications of a Chinese blockade of Taiwan. Cancian discusses why China might choose blockade over an outright invasion, how the blockade might affect Taiwan, the risks of escalation, and what the United States and Taiwan must do to make a blockade less likely and less risky. 

For more, take a look at “Lights Out? Wargaming a Chinese Blockade of Taiwan,” a recent CSIS report by Mark F. Cancian, Matthew F. Cancian, and Eric Heginbotham.

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Daniel Byman is a professor at Georgetown University, Lawfare's Foreign Policy Essay editor, and a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Mark Cancian (Colonel, USMCR, ret.) is a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Defense and Security Department.
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