(Do I have to mention this is sarcasm?)
Posted on 07/17/2024 5:15:24 AM PDT by sam_whiskey
Donald Trump has cast doubt over whether as U.S. president he would defend Taiwan if China were to invade the self-governed island Beijing views as part of its territory.
"Taiwan is 9,500 miles away," the former president told Bloomberg, "it's 68 miles away from China."
China's long-ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own but has never ruled there since coming to power in Beijing in 1949. Taipei rejects its neighbor's assertions.
The GOP nominee for the U.S. presidential election appeared to suggest that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for protection, telling the outlet: "I don't think we're any different from an insurance policy."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Could the US defend Taiwan in it’s current naval state?
“The GOP nominee for the U.S. presidential election appeared to suggest...”
That’s some real solid reporting right there. HE SAID NO SUCH DAMNED THING
“ I actually don’t think Trump is saying that he won’t defend Taiwan here. Seems like another deliberate misinterpretation.”
*************************************************
“Seems like”? Hell, it certainly is. Newsweek is a purveyor of globalist propaganda and lies. It does all it can to cause weakening of America.
I don't think that is an unreasonable comment (but it has caused a dip in some AI chip stocks this morning).
It’s Newsweek, toilet paper in case you run out
Sometimes it’s hard to tell stupid from evil, but the press is both!
The thing is that if Trump were President, he wouldn’t HAVE TO defend Taiwan from Communist China.
Just like Putin would not have gone into Ukraine if Trump had been President.
The best way to defend Taiwan is diplomatically because China has the upper hand on that one by virtue of geography whether we like it or not.
“I actually don’t think Trump is saying that he won’t defend Taiwan here. Seems like another deliberate misinterpretation.”
Until Biden took over, the policy towards Taiwan was quite simple. Don’t ‘Declare Independence’ and we’ll likely defend you if attacked. Now Taiwan has elected a woman (figures) who is on the verge of declaring independence, and they did that because Biden promised a war with China, regardless of whatever red lines Taiwan crosses. Trump sounds as if he’ll go back to the earlier policy, which China, at least for now, was willing to tolerate - considering the US and the rest of world considers Taiwan to be part of China.
“Could the US defend Taiwan in it’s current naval state?”
Of course, because the US Military is INVINCIBLE!!!!
Otherwise we would have taken China’s huge military buildup seriously, instead of cutting our military in HALF during the same time period.
But don’t worry, the Tweepers here will tell us the same thing that the Zeepers (likely the same accounts) told us about Ukraine during the summer of 2023, which was that Ukraine, equipped with the best Western WonderWeapons, will cut through the Russian military like a knife through soft butter (during their ‘Greatest Counter Offensive’). In the case a China, a few bombing runs from one of our carriers (before China sinks it with their hypersonics, by they way) will bring China to its knees.
Could the US defend Taiwan in it’s current naval state?
—
Yes, because the Chinese Military is a hollow joke, except when it comes to parades and stiring videos.
“The best way to defend Taiwan is diplomatically”
Sounds like the cheapest and safest way, but it might not work.
Taiwan supplies a lot of semiconductors to the world, doesn’t it? Maybe a long-term strategy would be to reduce that dependence because if China wants to do a messy takeover of Taiwan, they can do it.
From the article: "Taiwan took our chip business from us," Trump said. "I mean, how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business. They're immensely wealthy."
Sounds to me like Trump was saying, "Ya want help? Make it worth our while."
If they need us they should pay. It makes them (and NATO)acknowledge where they stand against their enemies.
Here's why an attack by China would render TSMC's operations inoperable (from Perplexity.ai):
Based on the search results, TSMC's chairman Mark Liu made comments about the potential consequences of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in an interview with CNN in early August 2022. Here's what he meant when he said TSMC would become inoperable:
Sophisticated manufacturing process: Liu stated that "Nobody can control TSMC by force" and explained that if there was a military invasion, it would "render TSMC's factories not operable".In essence, Liu was highlighting that TSMC's advanced chip manufacturing is so intricate and globally interconnected that it cannot simply be seized and operated by force. The complex web of international suppliers, technical expertise, and real-time global collaboration required to keep TSMC functioning would be severely disrupted in the event of an invasion, effectively rendering the facilities inoperable .Global supply chain dependence: The inoperability is not just due to TSMC's refusal to work with an invader, but because of the complex global supply chain and support system required for operations.
Real-time global connections: Liu emphasized that TSMC's operations depend on "real-time connection to the outside world: With Europe, with Japan, with US".
Multiple resources required: The chairman explained that materials, chemicals, spare parts, and engineering software diagnostics all come from various parts of the world . Collective effort: Liu stated, "It's everybody's [combined] effort to make this factory operable".
Disruption of advanced components: An interruption in TSMC's operations would cause "great economic turmoil" in China and globally, as "suddenly their most advance components have disappeared".
Of course he would NOT, he has all that money the China gave him...
“Could the US defend Taiwan in it’s current naval state?”
The TRUTH is we abandoned Taiwan under Richard Nixon. At a minimum, we haven’t seriously been committed to protecting it since the Reagan era.
My Dad was stationed there when I was a kid. I support Taiwan but almost no American would risk nuclear war over it. And we don’t have the resources any more. We couldn’t protect it if we tried!
War with China over Taiwan? Particularly when China is a much bigger trading partner?
This isn't 1950.
And because the Bloomberg interview in which this statement was made is behind a paywall, we can't examine the context.
(Do I have to mention this is sarcasm?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.