I really doubt the scenario presented in the Washington Times. Nuclear war over Taiwan? why? Why not just send 28mm Henan peasants over to Taiwan as refugees, packing in total of 1 trillion NTaiwan Dollars in counterfeit currency. Why not continue to attract Taiwan investment to the mainland and hollow out the economy of Taiwan. Why not just wait until victory is absolutely assured.
I do not believe Bush will have to deal with a Taiwan crisis of China's making.
There are so many simpler solutions available to China that one would have thought a Washinggton Times reporter can be more imaginative. But then according to these same reporters, Dr Wen Ho Lee was spying for China, or Taiwan, or both, or neither. Time spent reading their reports is better spent playing Unreal Tournament.
Does the reporter really think that the Taiwanese would sacrifice themselves in nuclear fire in order to protect a bunch of self dealing hoods and crooks in Parliament who are from the same families that emptied out their life savings in the banks? He should have interviewed the guy on the street and the capitalist in the tower.
The Chinese military creates an enemy for the same reason the US military does ... budget allocation. To think that China will continue to develop its economy without concurrently developing its military is not realistic, as China has plenty of unsavory neighbors (India, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc etc). To think that any amount of weapon based on Taiwan can defend Taiwan is also unrealistic, as all targets can be taken out within 10 minutes missile flight time, leaving not very much to argue over. Most important of all, the taking of Taiwan will not require force, only the threat of force, and internal mischief.
This will be a subject for "The Coming Crisis of 1015". I should be out of HK by then and residing on an island somewhere far away from the epicenter. |
