Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute at that time published an article in which he strongly criticized the views of these scholars. He argued that Clinton's desire to develop a constructive strategic partnership with mainland China was in fact making Taiwan nervous, while calls by some scholars to halt arms sales to Taiwan would only force Taiwan down the path of developing their own weapons.
另一方面，「卡圖研究所」副會長卡本特當時亦發表論文，力斥這派學者的說法，並指出，柯林頓與中共發展「建設性戰略夥伴」將引起台灣的不安，而學者呼籲停止軍售，也只有逼迫台灣選擇自行發展軍武一途。