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I suspect Taiwan has watched the war in Ukraine and built some fascinating surprises for anything crossing the straight en masse. Their population centers face China. I wish we could deescalate this conflict because it benefits NOBODY.
If anything, China should move north considering climate change. Russia won’t be able to put up much of a fight and there’s a shitton of resources.
If China attacks Taiwan, one of the main reasons will be that its liberal democratic system, by existing as an example, threatens the CCP’s monopoly on power. Which is much the same reason why Russia chose to invade Ukraine. The existence of Russia, a shitty autocracy hamstrung by corruption and a resource curse, poses no threat, as no idealist will point to them and assert that a better world is possible.
Why does China, the larger of the two, not simply eat the Russia?
They might be angling to do exactly that over a long period of time. It’s abundantly clear that Russia isn’t a real world power anymore. They need China more than China needs them. But there’s no reason to start a land war when you can slowly chew on them diplomatically over time.
They also don’t have much of anything China needs. Penalty the biggest value is in keeping other powers busy dealing with Russia. After that maybe oil and gas? Birch wood a distant 3rd?
If we’re going to be credible: freshwater, energy, and people. Those are the 3 things China will take from Russia.
Ahhh, I always forget about water. Even though that’s supposed to be the next east trigger (like Syria).
Any number of other mines and deposits, and land that will get increasingly not terrible. It’s just a big area, there’s bound to be good stuff. Also they’re still butthurt about the lost Qing territory.
it’s a fascinating prospect - they have the population to exploit the resources russia has only scratched at. they still want Vladivostok back - since the Treaty of Aigun of 1858. The area’s demographics are much more asian than anything else.
I wish we could deescalate this conflict because it benefits NOBODY.
/uj
- China benefits because they have an enemy that plays well to a domestic audience
- China would benefit if it could get TSMC’s foundries undamaged;
- US benefits because Taiwan wants a big buddy to keep it safe, so they’re forced into a de facto alliance
- US benefits because it has somewhere to park warships off China’s shores
/rj MIC goes brrrrrrrrrr
China would benefit if it could get TSMC’s foundries undamaged;
tsmc has already said they’ve installed kill switches on these.
as for the rest, meh. relations have been better and worse in the past.
tsmc has already said they’ve installed kill switches on these.
They’d be the first target if/when open hostilities break out. c/ncd loves to shit on the PLA, but I bet this is something they’d try to get right.
“Target” how? Blowing up TSMC isn’t what they want. China would need to establish air superiority first for any land invasion to succeed, which means Taiwan has plenty of time to pull the trigger on the kill switches.
If I was Winnie the Pooh, I’d pay Owl to go under deep cover for years to get control over the switches, or Kanga to make sure the Switch Master is indisposed when a military assault begins, or Eeyore to physically disable the switches before the attack. Winnie the Pooh has lots of options.
a button (or cron job) work at the speed of light.
good luck sneaking your invasion fleet across without anyone noticing.
TSMC and Taiwan have been expecting this.
Other than TSMC, those are good reasons to keep pretending an invasion is imminent any day now. Nobody benefits from actually starting that war, except for ideological reasons.
True but ideological reasons seem to be a big driving force for Xi Jinping. More so than his predecessors.
I don’t think China has any claim to Taiwan, they never even owned it that long. If the only reason is that it used to belong to them at some point in the past, then well, the Dutch and Japanese have a valid claim too. But they are independent now and that has been the status quo for 70 years. They deserve to be free.
If the only reason is that it used to belong to them at some point in the past. England would be rubbing their hands right now.
There is no fucking way they’re getting the factories undamaged. If it was certain they’re lost, there will be a family of hypersonic missiles en route to level them
Right? At the very least they should get Vladivostok back if they help unfuck the situation. Anything less would basically be bad faith on the West’s part. If Russia was going to pieces I’d actually expect the whole Far East to end up in their sphere, minus maybe some or all of Transbaikal.
I know, I know, you’re not supposed to carve up other people’s territory anymore. They kind of opened the door to it by trying to carve up Europe, though, and China has no particular attachment to the concept of local self-determination. Also, this is NCD.
They kind of opened the door to it by trying to carve up Europe, though, and China has no particular attachment to the concept of local self-determination. Also, this is NCD.
A man can dream :D
It’d just be so fucking satisfying: help, help, they’re invading us, we’re a sovereign nation, that’s our city, those are our people!
And not even Kim would send arty that was going to be fired at Xi lol… russia’s resources would evaporate overnight.
WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME, BITCH
-INDOPACOM
I hope we get some Ukrainian consultants.
Those drones have sideways WWII-style gas mask faces on them. I need reparations, that shit will be with me all day. Curse you, above average visual memory!
I can’t wait for all the horrific post-war PTSD art that comes out of China with these as the centerpiece.
There will always be room at Denver International Airport.
