June 13, 2016

Flashpoints, Escalation, and A2/AD

In this paper, CNAS Senior Fellow Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper examines three prominent escalation scenarios in the Asia-Pacific in the context of China’s developing area-denial/anti-access capability: a seizure of the Southwest Island Chain in the East China Sea; a seizure of the Spratly Island features; and an outright invasion of Taiwan. Dr. Rapp-Hooper analyzes the differences between deliberate, inadvertent, and accidental escalations to advise policymakers on how to proscribe adversaries from achieving escalation dominance by exploiting asymmetric vulnerabilities. Dr. Rapp Hooper concludes that the best counter to deliberate and inadvertent escalations are tailored deterrence and clarified escalation thresholds respectively.

Author

  • Mira Rapp-Hooper

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Asia-Pacific Security Program

    Mira Rapp-Hooper is a former Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Security Program at CNAS. She is formerly a Fellow with the CSIS Asia Program and Director of the CSIS...

  • Video
    • December 14, 2024
    Trump 2.0 and Security in Asia

    Donald Trump is bringing his "America First" agenda back to U.S. foreign policy. What could this mean for Japan and the partners in Asia? Akira Igata, an Adjunct Senior Fellow...

    By Akira Igata

  • Video
    • December 11, 2024
    Syria: What Happened and What Comes Next

    After more than a decade of civil war involving major interventions from foreign powers, over the past week a rebel alliance incredibly rapidly gained control of city after ci...

    By Richard Fontaine

  • Podcast
    • November 13, 2024
    The Future of Russia and China in Central Asia

    Despite the many proclamations that Russian and Chinese interests would collide in Central Asia, Moscow and Beijing continue to work together in service of their shared object...

    By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend

  • Reports
    • November 12, 2024
    Russia and China in Central Asia

    Executive Summary Despite the many proclamations that Russian and Chinese interests would collide in Central Asia, Moscow and Beijing continue to work together in service of t...

    By Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Lisa Curtis, Kate Johnston & Nathaniel Schochet

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia