Responses Against China's Coercion in the Indo-Pacific: Developing a Toolkit from the Philippines and Taiwan

How does a government respond to a threat or coercion by a larger and better-resourced military? That is a question faced by countries across the Indo-Pacific when it comes to actions conducted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan and the Philippines have experienced similar, yet unique, forms of PRC coercion that have resulted in both capitals developing analogous responses that fall within an analytical spectrum. This report focuses on how these two Indo-Pacific countries responded to actions conducted by the military apparatus of the PRC since 2022.

This report, co-authored by Perry World House Senior Program Manager Thomas J. Shattuck and Perry World House Visiting Scholar Robin Michael U. Garcia, considers the lessons from these two countries that may help to inform how other countries may respons to their own powerful neighbors.

This workshop was made possible in part by Carnegie Corporation of New York.