Taiwan Legal: What Does International Law Say About Defending Taiwan?

The United States and other countries that engage in friendly but unofficial relations with Taiwan generally maintain “strategic ambiguity” on the question of whether they would help Taiwan defend itself against a possible armed attack by China. Their decision would undoubtedly be affected by many factors, including how the world would regard third-party intervention (especially military intervention) in a China-Taiwan conflict. Would the United Nations, and international law more generally, view third-party military intervention in a cross-Strait conflict as an illegal use of force? In this installment of our occasional speaker series, “Taiwan Legal,” Professor Julian Ku of Hofstra University School of Law will explain what international law says about the use of force for self-defense and collective self-defense.

For earlier talks in this series, see Richard Bush on “What does US law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Peter Dutton on “What does international law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Jacques deLisle on “What does the United Nations say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Yu-Jie Chen on “What does ROC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); and Bing Ling on “What does PRC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here). Read more.