Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

China-Japan Before China-Taiwan

Politics / China May 13, 2015 - 11:00 AM GMT

By: EconMatters

Politics

Some long time readers probably know I occasionally write about Asian geopolitics related to China and Taiwan.  Since Taiwan typically goes under the radar of major news media, I usually google browse both Chinese and English news about Taiwan.  Over the weekend, I came across one disturbing piece of article by Hugh White who's a professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.  Excerpt below:


[T]he harsh reality is that no country is going to sacrifice its relations with China in order to help Taiwan...... China is simply too important economically, and too powerful militarily, for anyone to confront it on Taiwan's behalf.......  
Even more worryingly, this reality does not yet seem to have sunk in in Washington.... Any US effort to support Taiwan militarily against China would be almost certain to escalate into a full-scale US-China war and quite possibly a nuclear exchange. That would be a disaster for everyone....far worse than reunification [for the people of Taiwan itself].......

Everybody Scared of China?


The article basically tells the world to give a nod of approval to an  act of invasion to appease China as everybody is in dire need of China's money and helpless against China since "China can sink the carriers, and their economies are so intertwined that trade sanctions of the kind the US used against Russia recently are simply unthinkable."

Simpleton Defeatist

Judging from the lack of action by the international community against Russia in Russo-Georgian War in 2008 and Crimea in 2014, I should not be too shocked by this kind of defeatist mentality that is all too prevalent.  What I find ludicrous is that a university professor specialized in strategic studies would come up with a view so simplistic and as un-strategic as one can get.

White thinks "Taiwanese overestimate the international support they can rely on if Beijing decides to get tough", but he obviously gives too much credit to China's resolve to go to war with the U.S. over Taiwan, and under-estimate the alternatives of a non-military war.

Let's just ask this 'strategic' question -- Is it even plausible that China would go all nuke on the U.S. over Taiwan?

Nobody Wants A Military War

The fact is that NOBODY, China and U.S. included, wants to go to a military war, let along a nuclear one, regardless what the justification is.  In this day and age, non-military alternatives are often employed to avoid an outright war.  Look at how Russian economy suffered from sanctions and low oil price directly threatening Putin's political position (Conspiracy theorists long posit that the current oil price war is actually a pact between Saudi and the U.S. to crush Russia.)

What International Support?

Next, I'm going to respond to White's comment regarding 'Taiwanese overestimate the international support'.

Due to the island's political tension with China for the past 65 years, Taiwan has experienced countless betrayals and back-stabbing by many so-called allies.  So Taiwan has long learned not to rely on the 'international support', while striving for an independent economy and national defense (Taiwan has never asked or needed international bailout / handout like, for example, Greece, barring any humanitarian support for catastrophic events).

Nothing's Free in This World

Don't think for one second that the support from the U.S. in the past 3 Taiwan Strait Crisis were purely to honor the commitment the U.S. made to the people in Taiwan via the Taiwan Relations Act (of course, it'd still look pretty bad if the U.S. were to break its own Congressional Act.)

Bear in mind, the 'apparent support' from the U.S. in the form of defense weapon or equipment is not a freebie.  In order to beef up its own defense against potential military threat from China, Taiwan's purchase has benefited many companies in American and European defense industry (It is well known in Taiwan that t the price is always jacked way up when selling to Taiwan, which I guess is the 'China Risk Premium').

Most importantly, Taiwan has something the U.S. needs.

As noted in my previous post, currently, the U.S. can't really do anything about China's increasing military and financial (i.e. AIIB) influence over the region.  But U.S. has a gaping hole in its regional defense layer exposing U.S. Guam, Hawaii, even the U.S. West Coast to direct threat from China. Taiwan is the only friendly suitable and effective response to China plugging that hole in the U.S. regional defense network.  

The continued existence of Taiwan (or the Republic of China) as a free, democratic and independent state is a chess move the entire international community, not just the U.S. cannot afford not to make.

China-Japan Before China-Taiwan

My observation is that China would leave Taiwan status quo as long as Beijing 'feels' Taiwan is part of China.  So China may become difficult with Taiwan's presence in international settings, and may act aggressively towards any local island independent movements, but would unlikely resort to actual military actions against Taiwan (although Communist China did try some 60 years ago when Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Government first retreated to Taiwan).

In fact, the increasing nationalism in Japan, the visit by Japan cabinet members, including Abe, to pay respect to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, and the ongoing dispute over diaoyu islands, probably irk China more than Taiwan could ever achieve.

Japan has been a long-time ally of the U.S. who almost always has Japan's back.  So Mr. White should spend more of his energy 'strategizing' how Washington and the international community should best handle the 'delicate' scenario should a war or military conflict break out between China and Japan instead of a China-Taiwan scenario described in his article.  

中華民國 是我永久的憂傷    

By EconMatters

http://www.econmatters.com/

The theory of quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity (E=mc2) have taught us that matter (yin) and energy (yang) are inter-related and interdependent. This interconnectness of all things is the essense of the concept “yin-yang”, and Einstein’s fundamental equation: matter equals energy. The same theories may be applied to equities and commodity markets.

All things within the markets and macro-economy undergo constant change and transformation, and everything is interconnected. That’s why here at Economic Forecasts & Opinions, we focus on identifying the fundamental theories of cause and effect in the markets to help you achieve a great continuum of portfolio yin-yang equilibrium.

That's why, with a team of analysts, we at EconMatters focus on identifying the fundamental theories of cause and effect in the financial markets that matters to your portfolio.

© 2014 Copyright EconMatters - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

EconMatters Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in