I believe the US has a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan - so if China goes to war with Taiwan, it may wind up being a US-Sino affair.

there's an interesting book out called "Future Wars" which talks about the trouble spots of the world and how they might erupt into shooting wars. The original came out in the early 90s, i think. Tehre's probably a few clones of it out by now. So pick your poison.

John