Pick a reason, it will only be harder in the future

The Roman emperors inherited their power.  Augustus was Ceaser's nephew, Tiberius was Augustus' step son, Caligula was Tiberius' nephew, Claudius was the nephew of Tiberius, Nero was the nephew of Caligula, etc, etc, etc.  They ruled with absolute power and passed it on to their closest heirs.  The emperors of the later dynasty even to more extremes.  You sir are ignorant of history to argue against the emporers being nothing other than absolute monarchs.

The Punic Wars resulted in the deaths of more than 1.5 million people at a time when the population of the entire Roman Empire was only 4 million people.  That's 37.5% of the population, bigger than anything seen in WW2.  Poland suffered the highest percentage of deaths at 17% of their population by war's end.

This is rather ironic since you're flying the KMT/ROC/Taiwanese flag as your location here.  You should probably swap that out for a nice bright red PRC flag.

And "the majority" in Taiwan sees no such thing.  Only a tiny fraction of the hard-blue KMT wants reunification, mostly the ones who fled the mainland in 1949 and some of their brainwashed offspring, and they're dying off rapidly.

The majority of Taiwanese would prefer to declare that Taiwan is its own country -- not "declare independence" because they have been since before the PRC existed -- but don't want to antagonize mainland China and so they talk about "maintaining the status quo".

large majority want independence, only 6% identify as "Chinese" in the sense of "being part of China".

It's even less black-and-white than you pretend, too.

And the KMT weren't "national socialists", they were "nationalists" and also Leninists who decided they could make more money leeching off the U.S. so they turned into straightforward tyrants.  Fortunately they've mostly dropped dead.  Unfortunately, the other "party" is really more of a coalition of factions and can't get its act together, plus China keeps screeching about invading whenever the KMT loses, which terrifies enough Taiwanese into "maintain the status quo" votes for the KMT that they get back into power.

How about "because China would obtain a massive tech boost out of a takeover"?

Taiwan has advanced semiconductor and precision machining manufacturing capabilities that China doesn't and hasn't been able to develop on its own.  Taiwan's electronics and semiconductor companies also have a lot of information from U.S. companies that they do work for.

How about "because Taiwan used to be a useful airbase for U.S. operations in Asia, and easily can be again"?

The Black Cat squadron flew U-2s over China;  the Black Bat squadron specialized in other espionage-related aviation.  Lookemup.

How about "because Taiwan is part of what keeps China from taking over all of the Western Pacific"?

Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines are part of the overall strategy of containing China.

Vietnam had a shitload of experienced warfighters.  China had whatever remained after their latest Maoist purge.  There was also quite a lot of luck involved.

April and October/November are best.

Well at least he didn't start screeching about "peak ladyboys!" and Soi Cowboy.



Unfortunately for them, the way the city developed it was 100% dependent on the New Territories, IIRC for water.  The British decided they couldn't separate things well enough to continue functioning and so they backed out.

I hereby dub thee Xiao Xiao Ma ???

Or help Taiwan develop their own nukes

Taiwan was part of China for 300 years.  We're as likely to start a nuclear war with China for invading Taiwan as we are to start a nuclear war with Russia for taking Crimea.

We have violated no treaties or pacts.  Who have we left to the wolves?  The Syrian Kurds were used by us as proxies and they in turn used us, mutually beneficial relationship.  We have no obligation to protect them in perpetuity. Geopolitical strategy is strategy after all...not platitudes.  We have done such things for decades, one would be naive to think otherwise.

We blew our chance to eliminate the Chinese Communists when it would have been much easier and viable over 60 years ago.

Schwack China, we lose one of the few world powers capable of harming us. The remaining are Europe and Russia. And Russia would think twice after seeing their communist neighbor get their shit kicked in.

Fuck China. Now is the optimal time to fuck them over, while their economy is teeter-tottering on a razor's edge.

In a strictly military sense and without US intervention, China will overwhelm Taiwan given enough time, but at what cost?

Once shooting starts, China has to win, and in an overwhelming way.  Thanks to its Kaiser Wilhelm II level of political and diplomatic ineptitude, it is surrounded by all side with suspicious neighbors to the east, and outright hostile ones to the west.  Any sign of weakness may make Tibet and Uighur rise up in revolt while China's distracted, and though Japan, South Korea, Philippines, and Vietnam probably won't intervene directly, China certain won't get any love from them.

And US?  We can simply declare an embargo on all Chinese goods and trades.  I think we didn't intervene when Russia attacked its neighbors because we simply didn't have much leverage over there short of direct military intervention, but with China we have plenty.  And is anyone going to send their cargo ships to Chinese coast while there's a shooting war going on?

Seeing what China did to all the people it subjugated, from Tibet to Hong Kong, Taiwan will more than likely put up a good fight, while China will gain... what exactly?

Not really.  We are bound by treaty to defend Taiwan.

China is too weak to make an attempt on Taiwan, they're too afraid to get dominated by the one true world superpower.  Weak little country with a weak little military, controlled by a weak little president.  China doesn't have a chance in conquering anything, much less Taiwan.

I wouldn't necessarily count on that.  The officer corps of the military is overwhelmingly KMT.  I would expect at least some of them to do the same thing the Russian-Ukrainians did in Crimea -- mutiny and take their ships/planes over to the other side, sabotage what's left behind, or sandbag their units if they stay.  Even if the traitors are only a few percent, they could cause major damage to any defense.

A lot more of them would flee to the U.S.  Many of the KMT bigwigs have dual citizenship, if not for themselves then their kids got it through "birth tourism".  The Taiwanese have always been huge about doing that, and the KMT were the ones who gave their supporters all the good jobs and good perks (IIRC they were paying 18% interest on savings accounts for their civil servants, for example) to be able to afford to do it.

I don't think Taiwan would make it unless U.S. forces are already supporting Taiwan's at the outset, as in South Korea.

That would be a shame.
It’s a beautiful island. I spent May through July there in 2000.

Would love to go back.
Lots of young Scottish, English, and Australian women teaching English over there.

@LittlePonyAnd what if their nuclear counter attack gets through?  You're idealism just doomed my children to live in a radioactive wasteland for a bunch of people I have no relation too, that have shown very little interest in their own independence, that have shown no interest in my well being, on an island almost 6000 miles away from the continental United States.  Are you going to decide to pull off your panty hose, go fight off the invading hordes, bang out a bunch of kids with a woman survivor, and raise your children to be healthy and well adjusted men and women?

Are you going to leave that up to the breeder chumps while you go hide away in the countryside, crying about how bad your childhood was while mine learn how to avoid radioactive food by only eating the scraps that are covered in rats and roaches?  Will you come crawling back in your tattered dresses to beg someone else's children to care for you in your old age?

When I was younger I would have thought this was a good idea, but now I realize we can't heal the world, they aren't willing, and anyways we can't afford it.  I hope you carefully reconsider how demented, treacherous, and evil this neocon line of thinking actually is.  As for the hell you are forced to live in, lots of people have horrific childhoods, stop letting those demons control your life and overcome them.  If you need help, I have found Jesus Christ to be a useful friend that shines light into the darkness.  Best wishes Little Pony.

China state media posted this today

The Qing ceded Hong Kong and the tip of Southern Kwonloon in perpetuity to the United Kingdom, the lease was on the larger portions of land.  The UK could have done a number of things, but the eternally inept government of Queen Elizabeth chose the villainous path.

If by expats you mean the foreigners living in China that are relocating to Taiwan like C-milk and serpetnZA, then that is fine one is an American and South Africans, the other, are very culturally and genetically similar to ethnic Americans.  Just don't let their Chinese wives get a vote.

Taiwanese and indigenous Formosans apparently didn't have enough objection to Japanese rule to seriously revolt against them, while the Chinese Nationalists apparently don't care enough to strongly assert their independence.  They can stay where they are, and make a fate for themselves.  I don't mind selling them weapons and munitions in peace time.

"China" is made up, even a lot of people are duped into thinking they are "Han" when they aren't.  The People's Republic should be partitioned into several different countries.
I don't know if the KMT was national socialists, judging from Chiang's behavior he was more like Mussolini than Hitler so I would call the KMT fascist.  I will say this, Liu Shaoqui figured out Communism was idiotic and tried to implement reforms but he was destroyed by Mao's Cultural Revolution. Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiapoing succeeded where their colleague failed and transformed the People's Republic into a fascist country that still calls itself Communist.  This was very good for the People's Republic, and it, like Taiwan and South Korea, used America's stupid trade policies to develop it's own economy.

None of this is America's concern, we should never have occupied the Philippines, we should not have loaned Japan money in the Russo-Japanese War, we should have embargoed everyone in WW1, we should have supported Tsarist forces in the Russian Civil War, we should have told the Japanese that we were committed to non-interference in the Second Sino-Japanese War, we should have supported the KMT's position in Southern China, and we should have retaliated against China for their actions in Korea.  But we didn't, and now we are here.

Reaction to Taiwan’s defiance Attached File

[/color]

Indeed, 100 Years of total American and Western incompetence

Why the fuck would I fly the PRC flag?  I have no allegiance to them at all and the TSU flag isn't an option.  What's the point of your comment?  Just to be snarky and immature I guess or maybe an ill gotten attempt to be edgy.  The sample size of the Forbes survey is only 1,000 people.  Well I've conducted my own survey over the past 6 years well in excess of 1,000 people and I found the difference in the results to be significant.  In Taipei you will be hard pressed to find anyone who sees reunification with PRC as a negative outside of a few kooky senior citizens that like to wear TAIP t-shirts with matching hats on a daily basis.  This is especially true of anyone under 35 who will typically tell you "I don't really care, but China is powerful so reunification wouldn't be a bad thing."  I've heard some of the people friendly to the cause like to hang out at Green Bean in Zhongshan if you're interested.  Out in Taipei county and the rest of the country you'll still find the majority of people still view China as more good than anything else but with the caveat that reunification would mean Taiwan would get the same deal that HK did: One country, two systems.  I'll agree that most people do not want to see a total takeover by PRC because they understand what freedoms they have would quickly end.  But to say that "Only a tiny fraction of the hard-blue KMT wants reunification" is complete bullshit.  That sentiment is all over the streets and in people's homes at the dinner table.

Sun Yat-sen was founded the KMT originally as a democratic, anti-monarchistic party intent on establishing a republic.  There was never any discussion of or association with Leninism.  Are you aware that in 1924 Sun Yat-sen sent Chiang Kai-shek to Moscow to study their military and political system?  He met with Trotsky and others but came home a staunch detractor of Communism.  In 1927 Chiang, as head of the KMT, was the one who started the Chinese civil war by slaughtering every communist he could find in Shanghai because he hated them with a passion.  He loved to use terror tactics against people who he accused of being Communists.  At the same time the KMT also went after business owners and accused them of exploitation, seized assets from the wealthy and arrested anyone who spoke out.  They were nationalistic, anti-capitalist, and quasi-religious just as much as the Nazis were and hated the Communists just as much for the exact same reasons.  And they did all this long before the US was even a world power so I seriously doubt they played a decades long game to sap resources away from the US.  They were Nationalist Socialist thugs long before WW2 was even on the horizon.  I'm pretty sure you just made that Leninist bullshit up yourself too.

This quote juxtaposed with the murdering of Communists and promotion of Chinese Nationalism pretty much sums up the KMTs politics up until the early 1990s:

"The railroads, public utilities, canals, and forests should be nationalized, and all income from the land and mines should be in the hands of the State. With this money in hand, the State can therefore finance the social welfare programs." Sun Yat-sen

@Butterfly

finally someone i can actually fucking talk with, know anything about the wartime logistical nightmare? i find it fascinating.

though most find it dull