4 ms·
It's much simpler: national pride and hubris. If 'Mississippi' was somehow broken away from the US, the US would spend quite a lot of effort to get it back, ev
by jariel 6y ago
It's much simpler: national pride and hubris.
If 'Mississippi' was somehow broken away from the US, the US would spend quite a lot of effort to get it back, even though Mississippi is and of itself, not important.
If one takes a historical view that Taiwan, Tibet, Manchu, S. China Sea 'belong to China' then they will push hard to grab and maintain them.
- kelnos 6y ago> ... even though Mississippi is and of itself, not important. I agree that pride/hubris (more saving face) is indeed a significant component, but Taiwan has huge strategic military importance. Taiwan declaring itself independent and allowing (say) the US to set up a large military presence there would be unacceptable for China.
- jariel 6y agoThe geography of Taiwan is not important. There are plenty of places for the US to set up shop in that area, and the US does not want to set up shop there anyhow, because it is 'too close'. In a full-on war, there might be some advantage to the fact it's an island, but not really. The political significance of an independant Taiwan (or not) is 100x any tactical advantage of geography. S. China sea is actually more important because it's international water, and territory that overlaps with other countries.