A few more articles like this one at the National Interest by Christian Whiton will convince me that World War III might very well break out in the western Pacific. My previous top candidate had been on the India-Chinese border.
Update
At RealClearDefense Josh Sternberg reports that some Eastern Europeans are hearing echoes of the Cold War in the present situation in the Western Pacific:
As the analogies between the present geopolitical situation and the old Cold War are broadly disseminated and critiqued, it is worth remembering that many in the small states of Eastern Europe have a recent memory of living next to and under the control of – or, like the Baltic states, unwillingly within – an authoritarian superpower. Once in Taipei, VystrÄil invoked John F. Kennedy’s famous Berlin speech, declaring to Taiwan’s parliament “I am a Taiwanese.†Perhaps more than any other moment, that speech shows how the Eastern European countries that threw off Soviet domination only a generation ago are liable to see Taiwan’s geopolitical position in those Cold War terms. Along with Slovakia, the Czech Republic also recently made vaccine donations, with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen hailing the gift as showing Taipei and Prague to be “firm partners on the path to freedom and democracyâ€. It seems that more than a few politicians in Eastern Europe feel a fraternity with small democracies in precarious geopolitical situations.
What about the article is changing your mind?
The call to have the US military openly drill with Taiwan?
Or the recitation of evidence that Taiwan is investing in asymmetric warfare instead of big ticket items?
It’s part of what’s called a “drumbeat to war”. If, for example, it’s true that the Taiwanese will actually try to position themselves to be able to resist a Chinese invasion. The exaggeration of the degree to which the people in Hong Kong are actually resisting the Chinese takeover. If the other countries in the region are building up their forces.
It seems to me that is significant.
The CPC and Xi have indicated that developing the Chinese economy so that it is more domestically driven and less import driven is a priority. They also want to raise the remaining 600 million poor Chinese to the level the other 800 million have already achieved.
That will require a generation of peace, so China will not start any war anywhere. It will have to be attacked. Unfortunately, our Ruling Class, as typified by Whiton, are insane, and they are capable of any atrocity.
Again, do not these people know any history? Do they not know that Nixon publicly agreed that Taiwan was part of China almost 50 years ago?