[Vicomte13]

But then again, the US recently affirmed that it opposes any unilateral attempt to change the status of Taiwan.
In other words, the US has told Taiwan that if Taiwan declares itself independent of China, and China declares war and invades Taiwan in retaliation, the US has not promised to protect Taiwan.

This US support of the status quo means that the US does not stand for Taiwan's independent sovereignty either. The US position is "This will be need to be worked out over time", with the "this" being that Taiwan is a rebellious province of China which the US does NOT formally recognize as an independent sovereign state.

[monkeywrench]

President Bush stands by a free china and Taiwan. Many Americans stand with him. He said in an interview today we are bound to protect Taiwan, according to treaty.

We recognize 'one china'--a free china. China will go down, not Taiwan.

[Paul_Denton]

But then again, the US recently affirmed that it opposes any unilateral attempt to change the status of Taiwan. In other words, the US has told Taiwan that if Taiwan declares itself independent of China, and China declares war and invades Taiwan in retaliation, the US has not promised to protect Taiwan.

Actually high level military meetings between the US and Taiwanese armed forces are common place, as is military drills. Not only that, Taiwan is among the nations that receive the most of our military equipment, only behind Japan, Israel and Egypt (barf).

Just last year SEVEN of our carrier groups parked themselves just off of Taiwan during Summer Pulse 04.

Also the status quo means that we will not tolerate a Chinese attack against Taiwan.