The United States ought to pursue a strategy of denial, mitigating China’s capacity to undermine U.S. interests by preventing it from taking undesirable actions, according to a former Department of Defense (DoD) official. “Denial is the standard of denying China’s ability to subordinate our willing allies, and that includes Taiwan,” said Elbridge Colby, founder of the Marathon Initiative, a think tank focused on great power competition. “I’m concerned that if we’re not prepared and the Chinese are, we will actually increase the risk of war.” Colby delivered the remarks at a Brookings Institution webinar dedicated to unpacking his new book, “The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict.” Colby previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development. In that role, he led efforts to craft the 2018 National Defense Strategy, which was the first of its kind to identify countering …