Public opinion is polarized regarding the intensifying military tensions between Taiwan and China. While many individuals express support for Taiwan's autonomy and urge international backing, there are prevalent concerns over Taiwan's military preparedness, skepticism about U.S. support, and fears of potential conflict. A significant number voice their desire for peace and diplomacy, alongside anxiety about the implications of a military confrontation.

Taiwan

China

United States

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When China launches its invasion of Taiwan in the coming weeks, what should the US response be?  

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brooklynagain

Why coming weeks? We’ve been hearing about the imminent attack on Taiwan since 1965. 

I always think it’s in the US’ interest for everyone to think that China will attack Taiwan, and in China’s interest for everyone to think they could, but in no-one’s interest for it to actually happen. 

So I take the monthly “US general says China will attack Taiwan in the next week” with a big pinch of salt.

WantWantShellySenbei

Go all in. It's not an exaggeration to say that if US loses Taiwan, the US loses their ability to be a world power.

Taiwan semiconductors are extremely vital to US economy.

Taiwan maintains several important trade routes. If China takes control of Taiwan technically they have legal rights to waters encompassing vital trade routes and can block US

No powers in Asia will trust US. You'll see an extremely quick decoupling from nations that are strong allies of US.

No-Ear7988

What makes you believe China will try to invade Taiwan “in the coming weeks”? In how many weeks exactly will this occur? What will your response be if there is no invasion “in the coming weeks”? 

The US should defend Taiwan with our full support and capabilities in the event of an invasion by the PRC. 

Colodanman357

You don’t really need to worry about this. Atleast not right now.

Cors_liteeeee

Honestly?

Taiwan is a democracy and an American ally in the region and of massive strategic importance. 

I’d normally say we should defend them at all costs. 

But I have zero faith that the Trump admin can do so.

DannyBones00

We should act to defend democracy and the world order. We should meet our obligations and commitments. 

However there is nothing that makes me believe that such an action is imminent.

ButGravityAlwaysWins

Help Taiwan as much as possible, without setting boots on the ground.

Provide them with a crap ton of military equipment; train them on how to use it; let them go wild.

Aven_Osten

A Chinese mobilization to strike Taiwan would be seen by everyone. They're rebuilding their military after the corruption scandals and need those troops at home to keep peace. An invasion remains incredibly unlikely.

omni42

Raise the taxes of republicans and send their kids to fight it.

rustyshackleford7879

Due_Satisfaction2167

The USA should send military weapons to Taiwan.

MatthewRebel

What we SHOULD have been doing was setting a clear, internationally-supported and internationally-enforced norm that no country on earth should be allowed to invade another in a war of conquest, including the United States.

Consistent with that goal, we should make a Chinese invasion of Taiwan at least as painful for China as Russia's invasion of Ukraine was, and we should learn from how Russia managed to minimize that pain to maximize how effective deterrence and consequence are for China.

I don't think any of that is relevant anymore; Trump is an aspiring autocrat and has no problem with wars of conquest and plundering, and on multiple occasions said that we should have confiscated Iraq's oil resources after our invasion, and sees no real problem with Russia conquering Ukraine either.  Combine that with the fact that we just started a hot war with Iran, which by itself is unpopular among his base, and I think China is significantly more likely to attack Taiwan soon and I doubt Trump will respond.

fastolfe00

The United States should defend any democracy that's attacked by an autocracy.  That includes Taiwan.  

That said, I see no reason to think China is going to invade Taiwan in the coming weeks.

CTR555

Locking Trump out of the war room and putting his phone in airplane mode. The adults are talking how to negotiate this before it escalates further.

GameOfBears

Give us a range for the number of weeks you're talking about for "when" this will happen.

wonkalicious808

I don’t know that either Israel or Argentina are particularly interested in Taiwan (and it’s not clear what other countries still view themselves as allies ready to go to war on our side, so whatever we do we may be doing alone.

Fortunately, Taiwan does have other allies, so they’re not completely dependent on the sullied image of the USA.

AntifascistAlly

Help them, but in exchange we get 100% of TSMC's top semiconductor tech, their top employees, not the scraps they throw at us in Arizona.

Foonzerz

ItemEven6421

Probably nothing since China can actually fight back.  The us military doctrine assumes a weaker foe.

ramencents

Imo US should support Taiwan. It was policy for a long time. I forget if US is in a defense treaty with Taiwan still. 

I’d like it if Taiwan was incorporated into the US as a protected territory. 

I am biased because growing up I knew Chinese people whose family fled to Taiwan. 

Most mainland China citizens I knew were apolitical or students who were anti-government. The only person I know pro-Chinese Communist party was a guy who said “Taiwan is part of China” and that “one guy” was the reason people thought it wasn’t. Which I assume is the president or prime minister of Taiwan (whichever they have).

Hagisman

Give them weapons but don't engage China in any other capacity.

Defiled-Tarnished

Support akin to what was given to Ukraine, but no direct involvement or declarations of war. We should honor our obligations but not facilitate a third world war.

RioTheLeoo

Mind the business that pays us which ain’t China or Taiwan

asus420

I wonder why taiwan is called republic of china


There's also south korea, south vietnam, the many countries in the african continent.


I'm starting to see a pattern here - divide and conquer.

DifferentPirate69

No one would be more surprised than me if China invaded Taiwan. Why would they? Countries important to China recognize PRC as governing authority over China while acknowledging One China Policy of PRC. Taiwan will become another Special Administrative District like Hong Kong or Macau. Maybe an Autonomous Region like Inner Mongolia or Tibet. 

Why hasn't Taiwan declared independence?

AnxiousPineapple9052

Odd-Principle8147

Why do you guys like war so much? Watched Dune a few too many times? You can always join the French Foreign Legion and go to Ukraine if you got a death wish. Leave me the fuck out of it. 

Complete-Job-8978

How is this news now? Hasn't this been the status quo for the last 20 plus years?

ArkassEX

Is the US still the country we want to turn to for military support? I would be worried it would disappear as soon as China donates a Jet.

Ok_BoomerNZ

Meanwhile republicans in congress are attacking a Taiwanese ceo and insisting he is a Chinese CCP member.

Republican voters are so fucking stupid they don’t even know who our allies are

Law-of-Poe

Spokraket

It's a mistake to seek support from someone as noncommittal and treasonous as Trump. You can't trust a single thing that comes out of his mouth. I get that Taiwan has no other good options though at this point.

Xanikk999

Trump will cut a deal with China, you take Taiwan, I take Greenland.

General-Ninja9228

Argented

well guys... I don't know how to put it comfortably for you... if you only count on the actual US administration for help and protection you might be screwed...

doninside

Hope they are willing to pay for it in minerals or labour

Itzchappy

Darth486

GangStalkingTheory

He'd sell out Taiwan for a bad blowjob in a heartbeat

BlackMarketCheese

Good luck with that. Trump would sell his own kids for cash. Trumps a coward and only responds to cash.

Big-March-8915

Same-Boysenberry-433

Taiwan should get nuclear weapons and make as many of its own conventional weapons as possible.  The US and Europe are terrible allies who throw their allies under the bus when they're under attack.  The US and Europe will force Taiwan to fight with its hands tied behind its back, just like they're doing to Ukraine and Israel right now.  The US and Europe will keep trading with China and feeding its military machine because they care more about profits than about helping an ally survive.  Taiwan will not survive unless it becomes more self reliant.

_Machine_Gun

Beginning_Wind9312

SpecterReborn

Gonna have to wait a few years unfortunately

BrewHog

Taiwan’s defense strategy once relied on holding off a Chinese invasion just long enough for the U.S. to intervene. But trust in that support is fading, especially with Trump. Taiwan can no longer expect a repeat scenario of the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. In response, Taiwan is now shifting its focus to long-term conflict readiness, preparing for blockades. Lai is unapologetically promoting civilian resilience through stockpiles and public drills. Taiwan will need to resist occupation on its own and learn from Ukraine’s current struggles.

WinterizedLibyan

Why does the Pacific fleet exist doing exercises with Taiwan?

I can say that it would be reasonable for Taiwan to not expect American troops on the ground on the island but support with weaponry (drones, artillery, missiles)

A hypothetical war would mean that the US would use its Navy and Air Force, I thought that was consensus.

WalterWoodiaz

[deleted]

This war will definitely happen and probably in the next few years when Xi is not too old and can still take the credit of "unification".

If Taiwan does not want to be the next Hong Kong, they need to put in more effort to prepare and mentally harden themselves. I watched quite a few street interviews of Taiwanese and they mostly just expect the US to save them. Not likely when Trump is the president to be honest, especially if China proposes some juicy deals in advance.

The Taiwanese government needs to train the people on guerilla warfare and stockpiling ammunition, drones and RPGs.

DaySecure7642

They're being realistic and know they cannot rely on the US. No country can.

voyagerdoge

FelizIntrovertido

After taking away Taiwan's nuclear weapons program, the US might now consider back out of TW. 

Has Xi Jinping said "thank you" to America?

ApostleofV8

Taiwan has seen how the battlefield has changed to significantly favor the defenders with the new drone warfare paradigm in Ukraine.

They probably reasoned that it's now viable for them to defend against China on their own, or even that China wouldn't even risk an invasion even if they explicitly declare independence.

genshiryoku

How is this the unthinkable? This should be the standard moving forward. I am proud of the United States geopolitical capabilities, but I am strongly against countries having to rely on us from a sovereignty point of view.

bunchalingo

It will have to create new partners and be ready for no US support

archjh

The US fought bitterly leading up to UN 2758 to amend the resolution to recognise Taiwan as a seperate member. What followed was a intricate web of dependency, deceit and cooperation between US, China and Taiwan for the next half a century. Strategic ambiguity may have had its use, it is ultimately a duplicitous position that alleys the fears of no one, while implicitly taking on a moral obligation. 

Magicalsandwichpress

With their manufacturing capabilities, they can churn out significantly more low cost drones than Ukraine ever can and give China a bloody nose. Even Ukraine is doing a fantastic job of making low cost and simple to use drones in the middle of a war under constant bombardment. If Taiwan preps for it during peace time, they can have significant deterrence built up should the need arises.

Assuming of course they don't get Nuked by China. God help us all if it ever comes to that.

Mysterious-Coconut24

ChewyNapkin

If Taiwan wins it will almost certainly abandon the one-China policy and officially declare independence. The world should follow suit by recognizing it. The one China thing is a polite fiction that's gotten way out of hand.

Kahing

The way Taiwan is treated is the perfect example of how only power matters in geopolitics. Not fancy words like "democracy" and "human rights".

They know they can’t rely on the U.S. for protection anymore.

BostonDrivingIsWorse

Lai's provocations to China and submission to US in the last couple months are basically a bet on Trump's credibility, counting on Trump that he will honor his words after receiving every concession he asked for and even those he didn't. 


But apparently Trump eats on his words like a 3 yo does to crayons. Plus, as a matter of fact, Trump has never promised military intervention in Taiwan, which makes his appeasement to Xi on Taiwan even the most consistent policy he has ever made.

uniyk

Wise move after what the US did to Ukraine.

ykoech

China won't attack Taiwan on Trump's watch! /s

lutel

Why is Ukraine negotiating with Russia bad, but Taiwan negotiating with China good?

uncannyfjord

if chips weren't the most globally intensive supply chain in history ... say welcome to the new stone age if they use force.

jthadcast

Btw, this is what the USA is inviting.



One reason, among others, that China doesn't go after Taiwan is because they don't have the support of the world to do so. Going after the country that manufactures semiconductors that produce EVERYTHING is generally frowned upon by most of the world.

  
Now become the global trade center of the world when the USA falters. Pick up the slack where USA lets everyone down.

  
Now declare Taiwan yours. Yes, this will result in a huge global crash, but what can the world do about it? You're a superpower now. You've created dominance in the world economically and easily military as the USA becomes an isolationist.

  
This is what we have to look forward to at the rate we're going.

9AllTheNamesAreTaken

Does Donny say fuck it I don’t care or does he go full balls out and send 7 carrier groups with nuclear loadouts and the full arsenal of whatever world ending bullshit DARPA has cooked up? I’m not sure there’s an in between. His frontal lobe is rice pudding and he’s running on amygdala and Adderall. 

Who knows. Fucker could eat a bad taco bowl at Mar-A-Lago and decide that Taiwan must be defended at all costs because Chyna made Jesse Watters mad. Or he might just say fuck it, who cares about people with funny eyes or something I don’t even like Panda Express. It’s like handing my two year old the world’s strongest military. Will he smash the living room, throw stuff everywhere, and nuke Shanghai? Will he get bored and pout in the corner? Invade Canada? Nuke France? Nuke California? Shit on the carpet? Everything is on the table. Nixon had madman theory, but this isn’t theory.

Feisty_Vacation_4814

Does china's rifles still completely keyhole after only 20 feet?

CivilTell8

Recent military activities around Taiwan have intensified, with Taiwan conducting its largest-ever military drills while China showcases its military capabilities.

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