[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

"Winning, in my view, entails a Taiwan that continues to enjoy its independence without fighting a war conceivably more bloody and devastating than the last global conflict we had"

Except all signs point to China aggressively and seriously preparing for the forced take over of Taiwan. They are modernizing their military and passing laws to justify what they inevitably will do. China WILL invade Taiwan at some point in the future unless the Chinese government falls before that can happen.

They are getting ready for the war and it's going to come so we better start increasing the size of our military and preparing in every way possible.

[Rembrandt_fan]

Our old pal the Soviet Union spent decades preparing for an invasion of Western Europe, yet did not--or rather--could not because we and our allies kept our heads. To carry the analogy further, war is no more inevitable with China than it was with the now-defunct Soviet Union. I agree that prudent steps should be taken to forestall Chinese aggression, but I argue that these steps can be taken with a great deal more subtlety and smarts than what some on this thread are advocating. Publicly announcing our intention to defend Taiwan militarily, for example, or (as one person on this thread has suggested) arming the Taiwanese with nuclear warheads are simply not effective ways of dealing with that aggression. Never give the enemy what he wants, and what he wants right now is a foolhardy overreaction to some of the actions the Chinese have taken of late. I'm a former paratrooper and truly don't mind the notion of a lot of dead communists, but I also think there's a way out of this without war. Ultimately, I trust the President and his advisers, some of the best geopolitical strategists this country has ever produced, to make the right decisions.