> In addition, point 4 in the article does not make much sense. Why would a Russian victory 'encourage' mainland China to invade Taiwan, for instance? It wouldn

> In addition, point 4 in the article does not make much sense. Why would a Russian victory 'encourage' mainland China to invade Taiwan, for instance? It wouldn't change anything there. Point 4 makes sense to me — though I’m certainly no expert in international affairs. What it says to me is something about the world as a whole rather than something particularly about China and Taiwan. It says that the powers that be who are interested in maintaining the status quo in the world are either unwilling or unable to enforce continuing adherence to it. That could certainly embolden countries that are unhappy with the status quo but have until now been unwilling to challenge it.