Posted on 07/17/2024 7:13:52 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is vying for another White House mandate, said he thinks that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for defense, claiming that the country “doesn’t give us anything.”
His comment was in response to a question on whether he would defend Taiwan against China, as part of an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published Tuesday.
Beijing considers democratically governed Taiwan as a part of its territory, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously said reunification with the mainland was “a historical inevitability.”
Trump said, “Taiwan should pay us for defense.”
“You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything,” he added.
Trump, a Republican, appeared to link his comments to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, which is one of the most advanced in the world.
″[Taiwan] did take about 100% of our chip business,” Trump said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Fair point.
I get his point, but my grandson’s blood is not for sale.
“As of 2022, Taiwan’s public debt was 29.7% of its GDP, and averaged 34.1% of GDP over the previous decade. However, Trading Economics analysts and global macro models predict that Taiwan’s government debt to GDP will decrease to 22% by the end of 2023. Statista also predicts that Taiwan’s national debt will decrease by $48.3 billion between 2024 and 2029, reaching a minimum of $122.31 billion by 2029.”
With a $35Trillion debt, why in heck are we borrowing to give billions to Taiwan? Why can’t they borrow their own damned money?
So we’re mercenaries now?
Sounds fair to me, no protective alliances without tribute. If we are to be the world’s policeman they can pay us for it, or not.
There is one major impediment to China attacking Taiwan and that is that the CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said it (chip manufacturing operations) would become inoperable...and that would cripple China's semiconductor industry.
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".
So you would rather your grandson's blood should be spilled for free?
Now that was a truly ridiculous question.
I do business some in Taiwan. Over the last 35 years, they have developed into a developed country and western-style democracy, with a robust welfare state, as well as female leaders throughout, the gay agenda, wokeism, etc. etc. All part of being “modern” in the 21st century, I suppose.
They still have mandatory military service for 18 year olds (or university grads)
A friends son just went through it - 4 months total, home on weekends, and never fired a rifle once.
Taiwan’s military is absolutely tiny, and even with a budget for 250K total, they are still only at 2/3 manpower. Its a joke.
Taiwan fears a war and fighting much more than they fear being part of China.
Until this changes - NOT ONE US soldier for their defense.
Yes
> I get his point, but my grandson’s blood is not for sale. <
It’s hard to argue against that. Then what could deter ChiCom aggression?
It would have to be economic threats (promises, actually). Invade Taiwan, and all Chinese imports to America cease, permanently. And seize all Chinese property in the United States - including what’s held by Chinese front organizations.
Oh, and the Chinese students at our universities, revoke their visas and out they go.
Quietly but publicly let China know all this. Trump could do it. Any Democrat, no way.
China already knows that. They’re taking advantage of Brandon’s weakened condition. Their bellicose rhetoric would not happen if DJT were in the White House.
Exactly. And NATO too. Why are we stuck with the costs (both lives and $).
Maybe what they don’t have are human resources. But my guess is that they are a very wealthy country.
Really, you want your grandson to die in faraway lands protecting countries that do not give a damn about America, you and your grandson? You want him to die in the Ukraine that is ripping us off to the tune of hundreds of billions and bleeding us white 5000 miles away overseas? Do you really love him or have any car for the millions of men in this country because it seems that you want the establishment to spend his life for free?
This is a perfect example of why globalism fails. We rely on countries around the world for our well being. Essential items such as chips, rare earth elements, etc.
We’d be in very bad shape if those countries and their resources were no longer available to us. VERY BAD SHAPE.
I said nothing of him dying anywhere. My point, which should have been obvious, was that his blood is too valuable to be shed for Taiwan.
A quick bit of history:
Taiwan was sold to Japan by one of those Chinese dynasties in 1895. Japan infused its culture into Taiwan, and did so gently.
Come WWII, Taiwan was the location of Japanese POW camps for prisoners they had taken all over Asia and the Pacific. This is basically 50 years Taiwan was theirs.
This was a Japanese island.
WW II ended in 1945. The POWs were freed from Taiwan. The Republic of China (Chiang Kai Shek) announced Taiwan was his. In 1952, Japan did relinquish ownership they had been given to them by China.
In 1949, just 4 years after Chiang Kai Shek’s triumph in WWII, the people via Mao Zedong kicked him right out of China. He and his troops fled to Taiwan, where they brutally destroyed the Japanese cultural norms of the people there and for 30 years maintained martial law.
Chiang did one other thing. He took the National Treasury of China (which belonged to China, not him) with him when he fled to Taiwan. This was gold in large quantities.
Chiang Kai Shek’s wife was raised in the US. Spoke perfect English and knew American culture. He dispatched her to the US, with an enormous bank account funded with gold. She bought a gigantic estate on Long Island and began lobbying Congress (bribing them) on behalf of Taiwan.
That money and her efforts managed to maintain a UN Security Council seat for ROC (Taiwan), who had no nuclear weapons and a population a tiny fraction that of the mainland. This lasted decades, as did her gold.
Chiang Kai Shek’s people maintained martial law and then when they began voting, they took all the top positions, and the largest swaths of the most valuable land. That gold was powerful stuff.
Only about 20-30 years ago did political parties not aligned with Chiang’s offspring and his senior officers’ offspring begin to have positions in gov’t.
And all of those members of their particular Swamp know their cushy lives disappear if the mainland takes control.
So no, people, this is not some noble exercise in defending freedom. This is people feathering their own nests with the might of the US.
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