To be fair, the misadventure was in nation building. I don't support either (ok, I kinda-but-not-really support the Chinese case because I'm hyper anti-communis

To be fair, the misadventure was in nation building. I don't support either (ok, I kinda-but-not-really support the Chinese case because I'm hyper anti-communist, but even I'm not sure the human cost is worth it), but if US can somehow destroy the Chinese govt as effectively as we destroyed the Taliban government (or Iraqi, or Libyan), that would be more than sufficient to defend Taiwan. No rebuilding necessary.