Taiwan Independence
Reading through Drudge today, one of the articles caught my eye.
Beijing Warns That Taiwan Referendum Could Lead to War
Why it's at the bottom of Drudge's stories is pretty obvious, this isn't the first time it has been mentioned. In fact doing a quick google on "China Taiwan Threats" turns up a whole list of declarations for "reunification" of the two countries from Bejing.
Ed. Note: For a brief history of Taiwan click here.
The US has officially backed Taiwan's independence since 1979 with the Taiwan Relations Act. What the act provides is not only economic and defensive aid; but it also allows the US to act upon any threat to Taiwan's independence.
I guess for the two or three people that read this blog, I'll leave this open to you. Would you support US Intervention in a Sino-Taiwan war, even if this opened the US up to possible direct nuclear warfare with the Chinese?
Also, anyone wanting to read about Chinese dreams of becoming a superpower should read "The China Threat" by Bill Gertz. Quite an interesting read...
Comments
If it ment RAM stayed cheap, yes. :)
Honestly, the only way we "win: a war with china is through proactive nukes. No way we can defeat them on land. Especially not their land. I don't figure they want to tango with us, either. Nobody can win a war against us. They can severely damage us, but they'd be pretty much destroyed in the process.
Push comes to shove, they will back off their rhetoric.
Posted by: Dan Isaacs | December 4, 2003 9:45 AM
Actually, I think China missed their "window of opportunity" with the Clinton Administration. Ignoring all the rhetoric about Chinese donations to the DNC, I honestly think that China could have pulled off a lightning invasion powered by convertional munitions and the worse that would have happened would be a UN condemnation.
No China isn't stupid enough to go after Taiwan at this point. But I have read enough of Bush's current policy that actually encourages the whole "One China" ideal even more. And no, I don't agree with it.
At one point in time or another, Taiwan will declare its independence and will try to form relations with the rest of that world. IMHO, that time is about six to ten years away. When that happens, it will depend on the current leadership in China to determine what will happen next.
Posted by: Brian | December 4, 2003 11:00 AM