First, a cost imposition approach would be better suited to keeping the war limited, especially as the conflict neared or even crossed the nuclear threshold, as it very well might. A cost imposition approach is meant to hurt the opponent enough to persuade it to relent, whereas approaches emphasizing denial require neutralizing a military force’s ability to do something. The problem with applying a purely denial approach is that it would raise the question of what the United States would seek to deny China’s ability to do.
