Here's something tallhappy might be intereseted in -- Last year when questioned by the Chinese premier on Taiwan making threats attacking China, GW Bush responded by saying that "Taiwan attacking China is like a misquito attacking an elephant".
Here's a source of that from Taipei, ROC:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/12/11/2003214610
It does seems to suggest that Bush may not actually end up defending Taiwan with military force -- the Taiwan Relations Act leaves a LOT of room in this regard (it only has to SUPPORT Taiwan, but support doesn't mean military support, it could just be military assistance in terms of selling weapons).
This is a far cry from when Bush was a baby in 2001 and said "I will defend Taiwan, whatever it takes", which causes Chen Shui Bian to go towards this independence move. Now Bush regrets it, and pressured Taiwan during the 2003 meeting with Wen Jia Bao.