You do not have a democratically elected Mainland government with a constitution that both the Mainland and the island agreed to beforehand. Therefore, the island is not "breaking away" from that government with its democratically elected leaders. It's never been a part of it...and they fought the war to make sure they were not a part of it...and they are not to this day. In essence, the mainland is fighting a war of agression to MAKE the island become a part of something it never has had, and never wanted to have anything to do with...a mainland communist government.
Completely different scenario than the American civil war.
"You do not have a democratically elected Mainland government with a constitution that both the Mainland and the island agreed to beforehand. Therefore, the island is not "breaking away" from that government with its democratically elected leaders. It's never been a part of it...and they fought the war to make sure they were not a part of it...and they are not to this day. In essence, the mainland is fighting a war of agression to MAKE the island become a part of something it never has had, and never wanted to have anything to do with...a mainland communist government. "
You do, however, have a government of "China" in one form or another that has been there since 221 BC. And that government did control Taiwan for a few hundred years prior to the Japanese aggression. If you're saying that Japanese can attack another country and take over its territory, and taht its territory is no longer part of that other country, then that's like saying Saddam Hussein attacked and took over Kuwait and therefore, it is his. Does that make sense? OF course not.
The fact is, the government of China has had control of Taiwan previously before the 1911 republic revolution and that's where the issue lie -- if the situation was reversed, and China is democratic and Taiwan is Communists, then you and everyone on here would be screaming to attack Taiwan (and a democratic China will still claim Taiwan as its territory and would use force if Taiwan declares independence). Your opposition to Taiwan being part of China is because China is communist. Remove the communists and you would still support Taiwan independence?
My point is that you can also argue that the British colonies, the 13 states, are also independent from Britain for quite some time, other than having to pay taxes. And yet Britain still attacked the 13 colonies when US was formed and declared independence. My point is that Taiwan will have to fight for its independence - and I don't think its citizens are ready for that at all. Most Taiwanese are sending thier kids abroad so that they DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT. I'll bet when the Chen declares indpendence and the shooting starts, Taiwan will fall within 5 days. There simply isn't enough people in Taiwan who are going to stand by and fight when the sh*t hits the fan -- Chen Shui Bian will be the first one to leave the island when the time comes.
As far as your claim of unwavering US support - I think Bush has shown in recent days that it's not going to support Taiwan if it declares independence and rightfully so. If they want independence and go against the status quo that Bush supports, they should fight for it themselves. Right after Bush admin said that, Chen immediately backed down.
As far as Taiwan being a strategic position for the US - not so. People claim it can stop shipping to Japan? C'mon, most of the Japanese shipping don't go through the Taiwan strait. Going through Taiwan straight or east of Taiwan is the same distance as Japan is actually to the northeast of Taiwan anyway, not directly north. The claim that there is "critical" shipping lane is false. Given the choice between Iran/North Korea or Taiwan, the US will choose the former - and that's what Bush has done. There is no strategic value to Taiwan's location other than as an irritant to the communists in China.