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US has been arming Taiwan since its inception. How is now different? More important, Taiwan is arming itself. Taiwan is rich enough that can build own weapons,
by ianburrell 4y ago
US has been arming Taiwan since its inception. How is now different? More important, Taiwan is arming itself. Taiwan is rich enough that can build own weapons, and they could make difference in invasion. In particular, Taiwan could make nuclear weapons. They haven’t because US has pledge defense.
BTW, China should be clear that they might be able to invade Taiwan. But couldn’t defeat the US Navy beyond range of aircraft and missiles.
- unity1001 4y ago> US has been arming Taiwan since its inception. How is now different? After Nixon and the relations being restored in between China and the US, a detente was reached on this. The US avoided arming Taiwan in a way that it could be a threat to China, and China did not press the issue. The US broke that detente. > Taiwan is rich enough that can build own weapons No non-superpower country is capable of building their own weapons that could allow them to stand against a superpower. > In particular, Taiwan could make nuclear weapons Having a few missiles that can mount nuclear warheads and travel a thousand km is not having 'nuclear weapons'. Every major superpower has the air defense systems that can shoot down such missiles from up to 500-600 km and dozens of kilometers altitude. You must have a legion of such missiles with multiple warheads to be able to saturate the defenses. > But couldn’t defeat the US Navy beyond range of aircraft and missiles. That's decade old thinking. China has hypersonic anti ship missiles that can reach over 1k km now, and a lot of submarines. Gone are the days of the aircraft carrier...