TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Columbia University professor Michael Doyle argued the U.S. and China can achieve a “cold peace” on the Taiwan issue through important compromises to avoid a new Cold War.

Doyle’s book “Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War” was recently released in Taiwan, per CNA. He wrote that another cold war is emerging, which would pit the U.S. and its allies against China, Russia, and their allies, with Taiwan as one proxy. 

However, the world’s two biggest economies do not need to see eye to eye to work together, he argued. Doyle said a “cold peace” is possible regarding Taiwan, and there are significant, reasonable compromises that can facilitate cooperation and avert catastrophic conflict. 

First, Doyle said the U.S. should formally acknowledge “one China” and argued for the continuation of strategic ambiguity, which he called “constructive ambiguity,” over Taiwan’s territorial status. The U.S. “needs to make explicit the informal understanding that Taiwan is a part of China,” and the “U.S. has acknowledged that fully,” he said. 

However, this point is on the condition that Beijing promises not to seize Taiwan by force, he added. “We want to make explicit a Chinese commitment not to seize it by force,” Doyle said.

Doyle said the U.S. should use peaceful persuasion to reach a resolution with China. “Every non-forcible means of persuasion should be on the table, but force should be taken off,” he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. should bolster Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, not as a means of achieving “independence” but to strengthen its security and autonomy. Doyle said the U.S. should enable Taiwan to attain adequate defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific, instead of the U.S. continuing to increase its own forces in the region. 

Doyle also suggested that China cease its construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea, in exchange for information on the movement of U.S. ships. He also said special zones barring military transit would maintain security and reduce possible confrontations.

Furthermore, Doyle said China needs to be brought into additional arms control agreements, especially nuclear, which would require a new SALT treaty that includes the U.S., China, and Russia. “We could imagine other arms control measures in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, so that we confront each other much less,” he said. 

“China then stays an active and prosperous, not constrained or encircled, member of the world economy,” he added. 

Doyle alluded to the dangers of Cold War framing and relying on straightforward logic in the U.S.-China relationship. Rivalry, rather than cooperation, must not define the U.S.’ foreign policy in a multipolar world, he said. 

According to Doyle, upholding democracy does not only involve confronting autocratic regimes abroad but needs to focus inward. “International security will not be achieved without first rebuilding the economic foundations of liberal democracy at home,” he concluded.