Taiwan asserted its sovereignty Saturday after Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese self-determination following the American leader’s two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry’s remarks come as a swift rebuke against Trump, who said Friday that he was “not looking to have somebody go independent” when asked about whether the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s rescue in the event of an invasion by China.
If China wanted to invade they could do it already and there would be fuck all the states could do about it. Iran is the writing on the wall.
Kind of… the issue is conflicts like this are very costly and damaging to the economy.
Thankfully so far China has behaved a bit more rationally than belligerent states like the USA and Russia who are willing to do considerable damage to their own and world economies in an attempt to strengthen their military position. Which makes little sense in a mostly peaceful era. Economic and diplomatic power are more important in the long term, and they’re trading that away.
So I predict they will not do it even though you’re right that they theoretically could because the smart move is to keep growing your power base. China could be in a class of its own someday if they are smart enough, and then they’ll be able to force Taiwanese submission without even invading.