TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A panelist at an event held by the U.S. think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday (Jan. 10) said that the U.S. should arm Taiwan with enough missiles to destroy Shanghai if China attacks.

At the start of the event, CSIS members presented their findings via live streaming in a report derived from war games titled "The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan by Mark Cancian, Matthew Cancian, and Eric Heginbotham." In his opening statements following the presentations, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General David A. Deptula argued that the time has come for the U.S. to "get creative" about means to deter Beijing from launching an assault on Taiwan.

Deptula explained that deterrence is defined as establishing "sufficient uncertainty regarding success and/or consequences" in the minds of People's Liberation Army commanders to convince them not to invade Taiwan. He asserted that actions must be taken to increase this level of uncertainty.

The example of such actions that Deptula provided was for the U.S. to provide Taiwan with "an abundance" of surface-to-surface missiles that would have the range to strike Shanghai and "threaten its destruction." He reasoned that the risk of China losing its cultural and financial center would "weigh heavily on Xi Jinping and crew."

He said that this is but one example, but that the point is that actions need to be taken to "introduce uncertainty in the mind of your adversaries" to prevent them from taking military action. In addition, Deptula warned that it would be detrimental to deterrence if the U.S. provides any sanctuaries against retaliatory attacks in China in advance by "declaring any U.S. attacks against the Chinese mainland would be off the table."

Deptula said that the U.S. should not be "self-deterring" and the option of retaliatory strikes within China should "remain in play."

The retired general said that stealth bombers would have an "enormous advantage" as they have a long range, can carry large payloads, and are the sole "reusable assets" that can penetrate deep into China's airspace. He fully supported the think tank's suggestion of greatly boosting the stockpile of long-range anti-ship missiles (LRASM) as well as air-to-air missiles and other munitions.

He highlighted the importance and resilience of air bases and suggested that surface ships and the army would be best used to defend airfields. Deptula described attack submarines as "key assets" and had been shown to be of "extraordinary value" in the war games conducted by the center.