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Originally Posted by tofu
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Originally Posted by Musashi
Here is a question though. Is Taiwan worth a war with China, for the US?
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But China has to ask itself, given that 1) we can't possibly win the island, and 2) this is going to be very expensive, can *we* afford a war with the US?
After all, since Taiwan could be defended with just submarines that the US isn't using anyway, there is a near 100% chance that the US would defend it. What could China do in response? I guess they could fire (hopefully conventional) ballistic missiles at us, but soon we'll have a reasonable effect defense system against that.
I just can't bring myself to the place where I believe China is this stupid. |
Don't bet the farm on the ABM shield just yet, and given how much the US softshoes on Taiwan, China smells an opening. Lets face it, SARS ravaged Taiwan pretty much unchecked early on because China blocked WHO from assisting. I don't put much beyond their capacity for, and tolerance of, inflicting human suffering there.
Not only is China posturing on Taiwan, they've actually gone and
insinuated to Australia that it should reconsider its military ties to the US, because they may end up in conflict with China because of them. Somebody care to sound off on that little gem of diplomatic brinksmanship?
Big picture, folks, this is a bit more than posturing, this is saber-rattling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2005Mar9.html