I'm not talking about whether any "Taiwan independence" notion existed in Taiwan. The US hasn't entertained fantasies of Taiwan's government taking over the mai

I'm not talking about whether any "Taiwan independence" notion existed in Taiwan. The US hasn't entertained fantasies of Taiwan's government taking over the mainland, for more than 50 years. In reality, the US doesn't believe that they're the same country: the status quo is that they aren't. The fact that the US can't say as much out loud, to avoid insulting the government of the PRC, doesn't make that any less true. I guess what I'm saying is, nobody should pretend that the the official pronouncements of the US are its actual beliefs or policy around Taiwan. Everybody knows the US supports Taiwan staying independent, and just has to dance around that in public statements. Anything it says to the contrary is a polite fiction without real world effect.