text: The pace at which China is building out its military combined with the distance at which U.S. and allied forces must travel to confront China in a battle over Taiwan puts the U.S. at a significant disadvantage. While China only needs to travel 100 miles to reach the shores of Taiwan, the U.S. must travel thousands of miles to contest China. The distance equation the U.S. must deal with, commonly referred to as the “Tyranny of Distance” by U.S. military planners, is demonstrated in the below chart.