Strategic issues and Beijing's military strategy toward Taiwan have long been the focus of valuable research works. Jean-Pierre Cabestan is one among few scholars researching strategic issues from the point of view of the Republic of China. In his latest book, China – Taiwan, Is War Conceivable? he analyses in depth the way China's threat is perceived in Taiwan.

The book has a double focus. First, it evaluates the China threat and the military, as well as political, economical and psychological, capacity of Taipei to resist. Second, in a more speculative way, it weighs the risks of war and considers the different possible scenarios, with or without American involvement. The author does not aim to analyse recent economic and political developments in the Taiwan Straits. Neither does he consider different scenarios of peace building (this will be the subject of his forthcoming book, Chine – Taiwan: Peut-On Construire La Paix? co-authored with Benoıˆ:t Vermander, director of the Taipei Ricci Institute.)