[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Taiwan may become the peace offering, i.e., the US tacitly agrees to let China take it over through threat and possibly force.

China has been using US money to research and build stealth subs, anti-satellite weapons, and who knows what else. I'm not sure the US would win a war over Taiwan. More likely we would have a 50 year agreement like the UK made for Hong Kong.

[kabar]

The US does not have the authority to negotiate with China over the disposition of Taiwan. It is not analogous to the UK position over Hong Kong. It was Jimmy Carter who got us into the One China policy whereby we recognize Taiwan as part of China, but any reunification would have to be peaceful and subject to approval by both parties.

Taiwan has the world's 20th largest economy, bigger than Turkey, Austria, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Poland, South Afria, just to name a few. It is also a democratic country. For us to negotiate away its sovereignty and place it under a Communist dictatorship would be morally reprehensible and an act of enormous betrayal.