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Yes that's true. The economy in Taiwan is rotten to the core. They "lead the world" in 10 or 15 electronic devices, like scanners and such, but guess what, only 9% of that is made in Taiwan, 91% is made in China. Their "economic miracle" was cheap labor and our electronics, nothing more. They're good at keeping family shops, but not much more than that. Now all of it has moved over to China, and the lack of originality in Taiwan (and Asian nations in general) is showing in that they don't have a clue about how to get a good economy back again.

I've spent time this last year in Taiwan. Many cities have empty buildings, like Tai Jung, the central city. There are 7 or 8 fourteen story buildings around the train station (which in Asian societies is the best real estate) that are completely empty!!

There's nothing really left of Taiwan. The island is just a crappy piece of land (no resources, LOTS of earthquakes, typhoons) belonging to China, and our idea of defending it dates back to the Soviet era. We should just hand it back and negotiate a goody for ourselves in the process.

Taiwanese don't even take their own defense seriously and can't defend in anyway against China. There is nothing there for us.
The ONLY reason I've heard for defending Taiwan is some sea lanes nonsense. Please, the entire Eastern border of China is on the sea, they have all the ports they need already. Having Taiwan will not change China's military in anyway but will alleviate us of another foreign burden. That's my opinion, but I'm probably pissing someone off with this post.

There's nothing really left of Taiwan. The island is just a crappy piece of land (no resources, LOTS of earthquakes, typhoons) belonging to China, and our idea of defending it dates back to the Soviet era. We should just hand it back and negotiate a goody for ourselves in the process.

Yeah, I guess the nastly little notion of self-determination means nothing to you, eh? How's the weather there in Beijing today?