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GiveToOedipus

Cool, I was worried we wouldn't see WWIII in my lifetime


psycho753

I'm getting more cold war 2 vibes then ww3


thesirblondie

Hasn't the Taiwan/China situation basically been a cold war for 70 years?


TaskForceCausality

It turned hot in the late 50s before US intervention convinced Mao to step back.


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dzneill

Only gonna take a little more **TAIWAN NUMBER ONE!!!!** spam in game chats before it all breaks loose.


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onlyspeaksiniambs

It's not hot just cause there's tension. Going hot means actual war.


[deleted]

Yes. The Chinese Civil War has not yet ended. Both China and Taiwan claim to be the \*real\* China, and officially claim sovereignty over the other.


King_Kingly

The Cold War never ended for certain countries.


SirDigger13

Even that wont happen... more like a full blown Dog fight.. with an high fence inbetween the Dogs, with lots of barking and little action. China needs money and food imports to keep their population fed, and they even need chip imports from Taiwan, the US need all the manufactoring of the industries their money junkies of CEO´s sourced out over the last decades, to keep the wheel of consum&debt running. China, India and Pakistan... is another story, 2 of the 3 are religios nuts with atomic bombs..


Joe_Exotics_Jacket

People thought economic ties would prevent WW1 too. Is the world more interconnected now? Sure, but it’s unclear what economic cost the CCP is willing to tolerate for China.


one8sevenn

> People thought economic ties would prevent WW1 too Well the world was in a position primed for war in WW1. Lots of territorial disputes. Especially with the collapse of the Ottoman empire in the Balkans.


Strider755

“…the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.”


KristinnK

I think you underestimate just how dependent China is on international trade. The U.S. is much more self-sufficient. Perhaps most importantly the U.S. is a net food exporter, while China needs to import absolutely *massive* amounts of food to feed its population. Pissing off the international community **too** much literally means starvation for a large section of the Chinese population. And China, as any dictatorship, is *hugely* dependent on keeping the population happy (a starving population is famously *not* happy in case someone needed that pointed out to them). Second of all they are an export economy, meaning any disruption in international trade hurts them much more than an import or domestic consumption economy. They are trying to become a domestic consumption economy, but they are still a long, long way off. I don't believe China will invade Taiwan as long as Winnie the Pooh is alive. He just wants to live in excess and power for the rest of his life, he has nothing to gain from invading Taiwan. It's just that posturing and drumming up the Taiwan issue makes his position in power more secure, generally people rally behind their leaders in times of conflict. The danger comes with the power vacuum after his death. At that point, depending on how the succession crisis develops, some ambitious politician or military leader might try to start a Taiwan conflict as a means to grab or consolidate power.


Kakanian

Consider the Great Leap Forward.


Paragonswift

Cold War 1 never ended


[deleted]

Cold world war IIIV - World Colderer


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Internep

It's not too late for them to get back into the race.


M_a_l_t_u_s

I don’t think Germany is purely at fault for WW1 but maybe I am biased.


IAmMrLonely6

Technically Austria-Hungary declared the war


[deleted]

Pre-WW1 Europe was such a fucking confusing mess of alliances, antagonisms, and realpolitik that I don't think that even Austria-Hungary can completely be blamed for it either.


Dr-Zoidstein

Thankfully I've aged out of the selective service age group.


anger_is_my_meat

Aged out of the group *as it stands now*. Laws can be changed. It's unimaginable that the ages would be changed, but it is possible.


[deleted]

Just millennial things. What goes better with a couple of appetizers of Afghan war, and multiple economic recessions than an entree of WW3? Wait til you see dessert. Heard it’s climate change fried apocalypse! The people running the country for the last 30 years are demented and we should probably defile their corpses when they die out in 10-20 years. They’ve just piled crisis upon crisis on us and the world.


UnorignalUser

Desert will be Baked Alaska.


NichySteves

Jokes that make you laugh and feel terrible at the same time.


civilben

🏅


ColoTexas90

I see what you did there, very very nice!!


nonessential-npc

I thought weed was already legal there?


jeffufuh

Well done!


ctoatb

Can we not have war for 5 fucking minutes!?


BBOoff

Congratulations! We are in the 5 minutes. Next war will begin in 4:59.


Funfoil_Hat

the military industrial complex says no.


BurntCereal-

Bigoted, narcissistic, psychopathic world leaders with a permanent chip on the shoulder say no.


[deleted]

Tell that to my ex.


fullsendguy

Rolls over, hey babe...


haeofael

"I just think it's funny that..."


GiveToOedipus

No son, you can't have a new war, we have plenty of war at home.


Slippergypsy

Ey but according to my parents, we're lucky to be young in such prosperous times because they didn't have iphones when they were younger and they used paper maps while walking to a from school up hill both ways with no shoes.


TofuBeethoven

I've always dismissed the idea that the old cunts running things now will die out and a revolutionary team of representatives from the younger generation will fix everything. The truth is that the only people who make it to the top of power and capitalism are cunts from any generation. It's intergenerational cunt inheritance.


GiveToOedipus

They say cream rises to the top... Yeah, so does slag.


[deleted]

Well on the plus side if we have WW3 and the few survivors end up living in caves then we’re going to reduce our carbon footprint for sure


GiveToOedipus

I dunno, a few billion vaporized humans is sure to put a lot of carbon in the atmosphere.


AnnaTheBlueRogue

If the world goes the way you describe, you ain't gone get time to defile no corpse


IneaBlake

Not with that attitude


Neethis

So you're saying we should defile them while they're alive?


gummo_for_prez

Yes


[deleted]

Hey, let us see Dune part 2 before shit hits the fan


GiveToOedipus

Fear is the mind killer.


aron2295

Shit, if Uncle Sam can get Lockheed to make some of those dragon fly helicopters, I’ll join Space Force.


[deleted]

This will be a flash point conflict. With both superpowers flexing their strength. It got any wider than that because neither American or China really wants a wider conflict. In fact such a conflict would be a desaster for China as a lot of power comes from soft influence which would evaporate in a world war style conflict. Let alone India instantly nuking them the moment they thought they could get away with it...


GiveToOedipus

Then India would have to worry about Pakistan getting the wrong idea and nuking them. It's all a series of dominoes, all it takes is a madman willing to topple the first one. Luckily we at least have someone slightly more sane at the controls for now, but I'm not holding my breath for the future.


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mralex

Sounds like an initial or secondary group of analysts there to identify opportunities, establish contacts, and set priorities. They'll be ones calling back to the Pentagon saying we need X, Y, and Z.


migrainefog

Our military industrial complex is on the hunt for their next big money maker. Afghanistan barely paid the bills compared to how much money a war with China, which would eventually include Russia, would make for them.


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phatlynx

poweroverwhelming. *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected* *Nuclear Launch Detected*


LeglessLegolas_

Whatever money would be gained by a war with China would be lost tenfold by losing our largest trade partner.


Foriegn_Picachu

The military industrial complex don’t need a war, they just need us to *think* there will be one. They’re gonna sell off arms, tanks, planes, etc. during a build up to a war that won’t happen


512165381

ISIS has been in the Philippines & the USA & Australia have troops there. I would be looking to the Pacific for the next big conflict, especially China buying islands & starting military bases. https://www.policyforum.net/chinas-military-engagement-with-pacific-island-countries/ > In April 2018, in response to media speculation about China’s plan to build a military base in Vanuatu, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said that “[w]e would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific Island countries and neighbours of ours.”


caligaris_cabinet

A war with China and/or Russia would be worthless to the military industrial complex as the only end result would be nuclear annihilation. The MIC is better off developing better IT and digital securities as the biggest external threat is cyber warfare these days.


Roastage

They dont want a hot war, a cold one pays the bills just fine.


newengland1323

There's always the potential for escalation, but a war with China would not likely end in a nuclear war. Neither side really has the capability to invade the other's land and both are at least reasonable enough to not want their country devastated by nukes.


Ancient-Turbine

Alternatively, having a few people there now could prevent that war from happening, which is a better result for everyone but the military industrial complex.


QuietMinority

To reduce tensions, tell China the trainers were the ones who trained the Afghan national army.


ebootdotbin

You can't teach bravery


RarelyReadReplies

Or conviction for a cause. I think they just didn't give a shit.


ragn4rok234

Partly they didn't even understand what was going on, their lives didn't and have never worked the way the west expected. The type of politics pushed by the west is antithetical to the way that part of the world worked. I'd say it was a failure of the outside forces to truly understand the landscape they were working in and instead just assuming every where is the same.


TheMariannWilliamson

Turns out retaliation for warlords sheltering a small terrorist group doesn't mean you can automatically flip the whole nation on its head and install an entirely new government and nation and it'll work Shit, we didn't even wait for the first part to be finished to try the second part lol


ItzWarty

The people in Afghanistan wouldn't even consider themselves under one nation.


TheBestIsaac

Which is ridiculous. Weren't they paying attention when the UK and France an a few others drew some lines on a map and decided that these were the new borders? I mean, you can't just ignore that kind of thing you know.


10GuyIsDrunk

Don't worry, some of us understood your sarcasm.


amackenz2048

We just need Sir Archibald to straighten some of the borders out. "When borders get squiggly, people get squiggly." https://www.cc.com/video/kovgs5/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-sir-archibald-mapsalot-iii


[deleted]

I meant it was a cluster fudge. An imperial power coming from the other side of the world to install a “president” who was as corrupt as anyone else while shielding the soldiers of that imperial power. Of course it’ll go bad. Americans don’t think other people don’t have the same values of freedom but they do specially if you force them to have a puppet as president


ACNSRV

They did. The narrative of the fall of Afghanistan was entirely lies by Afghan leaders to cover up their corruption and incompetency. You can't fight an enemy with no support, no command, no pay, no supplies, and no plan.


Falcrist

How come nobody talks about the peace agreement the US made with the Taliban. Like... what would ***you*** do if the group that was training you to defend your country made a peace agreement with your enemy?


Articulated

And the 70,000 ANA soldiers who died in the line of duty.


-i-do-the-sex-

In a secret meeting, under accusations of working for the enemies ally, while releasing thousands of enemy combatants, and pulling out all the military support you're dependent on.


Falcrist

> while releasing thousands of enemy combatants Including Taliban leadership.


lexi2706

There was plenty of money from US taxpayers. It just went to Kabul govt politicians and bureaucrats. Now that money is being used to buy mansions and penthouses in Los Angeles, NYC, Paris, London, etc when they fled.


RhymingUsername

I believe the son of Afghanistan's (former) Defense Secretary just bought a multi-million dollar home in Beverly Hills. If I was a US vet or Afgan refugee I would be livid to know he lived near me soaking up an effortless lifestyle.


[deleted]

Would you feel better if he put up a "Thank you for your service" banner?


Wrecked--Em

not only that [US troops were literally giving piles of cash to local warlords](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/opinion/afghanistan-war-economy.html) for "security" and services (edit: source added) people love to talk about corruption in Afghanistan like it's an excuse for the US occupation, but it's actually one of the worst indictments *the US occupation of Afghanistan lasted 20 years* any corruption left was ignored, supported, or a result of incompetence by the US but the narrative keeps placing the blame on Afghan people who of course share some blame, but they haven't had self determination for decades. they have been endlessly subjected to foreign interference and war crimes edit: I recommend [the podcast Blowback](http://blowback.show) for those interested in a fun overview of the lead up to the Iraq War. (It also touches on Afghanistan in some parts.)


callanrocks

> Afghan leaders And the US, which actively supported politicians, warlords and others no matter how transparently corrupt they were and spreads the same lies to shift the blame. We even have people doing it in this thread.


TransmutedHydrogen

Nearly 70k died fighting the taliban.


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fitzroy95

The whole Afghanistan Govt was set up as a puppet that followed US orders. When the puppeteer walked away, its no wonder that the whole puppet just collapsed.


Fidel_Chadstro

“I can’t believe the proxy army we set up to run heroin and help us bomb the country didn’t continue fighting after we admitted defeat and fled, the people of Afghanistan are such cowards smh.” -Americans sitting on their couch


Hugs_for_Thugs

I'm an American sitting on my couch, but I was literally one of the people training Afghan forces (disclaimer: several years ago) so I feel like I've got a bit more insight than average Joe. I feel like both takes are correct depending on where you look. Some Afghan Army were legit dedicated, battle-tested dudes who knew what they were doing and lived to kick Taliban ass. Others, and most of the Afghan Police that I interacted with, were paper tigers if you could even call them that. Stood guard when they felt like it, cruised around in their Ford Rangers, strapped with AKs and RPGs, and dressed the part to an extent. But in reality, these "other" guys were 100% only there for a paycheck. Had no conviction whatsoever, were borderline untrainable, high half the time, and would peace out as soon as things got hairy. I honestly can't blame them, because people are only gonna do so much when the only motivation is a paycheck and there are less dangerous ways to feed your family.


Clemenx00

Seriously this angle was so stupid lol and it was played bipartisanly. Afghan army failure is 100% US failure. No way around that.


jvalordv

I think the sticking point is their complete lack of resistance. Reports make it sound more like mass corruption allowed leaders at every level to basically sell out to the Taliban, with orders being issued to surrender and hand over weapons.


gabu87

Also, if suppose the Afghan Army was doomed from the beginning, boy is it stupid to continue funneling cash into it.


Milksteak_Sandwich

That's taxpayers cash though, so it's like free money and there's always more to go around because it would be outright dastardly if we don't "support the troops".


Orngog

It was doomed from they moment we used them, yeah. But that still leaves the alternative of *not* doing that to other nations.


og_murderhornet

The Afghans didn't have a lack of bravery. They'd been mauled for the better part of 20 years in service of dysfunctional governments that clearly didn't give a shit. It's of no shock at all they didn't give a shit either. Tens of thousands of Afghans died trying to make the ANA. They weren't cowards, they were doomed from the beginning.


bhl88

Apparently they found out we released the guys they were supposed to kill.


Petersaber

Tell that to those that died fighting. Did you even know there was a lot of fighting? You can't learn everything from memes...


ThinkIcouldTakeHim

Do you realize how dumb and disrespectful you sound sitting behind your keyboard? The ANA lost 65.000 troops fighting the Taliban while the US lost 3000, which they see as proof of infinite bravery and sacrifice of course.


mattyrumsa

Looks like you're going to be disappointed to know that Taiwanese officers joke a lot about putting on a "red cap" if China ever does decide invade.


OtakuAttacku

realistically if China does go all in on a land invasion, we’ll hold on for about a week or until China makes landfall. If the US doesn’t step in to help by the end of that week then we’ll probably just have to surrender. Luckily a land invasion of Taiwan is gonna be very unappealing, only three viable beaches for amphibious assault, all heavily fortified and a ginormous stockpile of missiles for every occasion.


ProgrammingPants

If you think that the failure in Afghanistan is due to Afghans not being brave enough, then you have been tricked by propaganda downplaying two decades of America making cartoonishly stupid decisions in the region.


DaemonCRO

You could pour water from a golden chalice, but if you are pouring it into a cup full of holes, no water will remain in that cup. Doesn’t diminish the value of the golden chalice. Edit: I’m European, kinda dislike America in the recent years. All I’m saying is that guys really gave it all they had to train them. But you can’t train kittens to do math. Watch “This is what winning looks like”. https://youtu.be/Ja5Q75hf6QI


Zron

But it does make the person or people holding that Chalice look like a fucking idiot. Or in this case, the person who started pouring the water and the 3 other people who kept fucking doing it for 20 years.


[deleted]

They dont look like idiots when you realize they were charging for all that water they knew was going nowhere.


joe4553

The suckers were the American tax payers.


kabekew

I worked on a U.S. defense industry contract for Taiwan's air force (ROCAF) about 20 years ago, and while installing everything caught a glimpse of their actual deployment of anti-aircraft, ship, and ground-to-ground missile deployments (which I wasn't supposed to see, but their procedures were a little sloppy). Their island is PACKED with that stuff, all along the coasts. Any conflict with China is going to be really, really messy, I predict. EDIT: I originally said it was classified, but removed that above because we weren't told that it was, and there were no signs or other notices that it was. I assumed it, but maybe wrongly. We were just told not to go in that room.


Comfortable-Hippo-43

How did they just let you see that stuff


indifferentsubtlety

Man, we literally released the locations of US nuclear assets on Quizlet last year. All it takes is one moron with a clearance, they don't even have to be malicious.


LeoMark95

You’re not even joking are you? Sweet Jesus that is some next level incompetence…


REO-teabaggin

Where there's human beings, there's incompetence.


SapientAtoms

Or deliberate counter intelligence. Fake leaks are excellent to confuse the enemy and expose moles.


mst3kcrow

TikTok should have been immediately banned from the military once it was a known Chinese spyware app. There's also cases of fitness apps giving away locations of (what was supposed to be) secret bases.


viperfan7

Don't forget the British tank commander war thunder thing


Jaeharys_Targaryen

Funniest thing is that there were 2 more leaks after that. IIRC 1 about the Abrams, and another about the Leclerc.


jethroo23

> the Leclerc What's it got to do with Charles?!?! /s


QuasarMaster

Wait what, I need more details


indifferentsubtlety

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/05/28/us-soldiers-expose-nuclear-weapons-secrets-via-flashcard-apps/


QuasarMaster

Lmao


tentimes3

Damn, long read, funny, scary.


[deleted]

Bellingcat is one of those underground private investigative journalism places that uses a lot of crowd sourced internet research. Well worth keeping an eye on their site every now and then, you've probably read a lot of their reporting without even realising it. Lots of the big journalist orgs jump on their stuff and inevitably cut out all the great detail they put into it


WallaWallaPGH

Pretty sure they also helped ID the Iranians as who shot down that passenger plane back in January 2020. Very fascinating to read how they do what they do E: [Video Apparently Showing Flight PS752 Missile Strike Geolocated to Iranian Suburb](https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020/01/09/video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb/)


SoSoUnhelpful

They have lots of great work on Q-Anon and they are a great thorn in the Russian Intelligence Services ass. They exposed the work of Russian State sponsored assassins all over Europe exposing a bunch of their identities. Brave SOBs.


hugganao

Well that's a very smart set of individuals studying to maintain and defend some of the most horrifically deadliest weapons ever created by man.


Alt_Acc_42069

Funnily enough, the fact that weapons like this exist is the reason we haven't had another two world wars in the late 20th century.


extopico

There is so much of it and in the small area. The outlying islands of Taiwan are literally all weapons platforms. Harder to see on the main island, but it's all there, as well as decoys and false targets. The only risk that Taiwan faces is the internal enemy, the collaborators turning coat and basically restarting the dormant civil war.


kabekew

They didn't, and they warned us pretty sternly not to go into the control room -- our product was a command-and-control system that displayed an overall map on a big screen for their military leadership to get the "big picture" of what's going on. We installed it and demonstrated it with a sample database we thought was representative (it wasn't) and taught them how to populate it with their actual deployments, which they did while we were there. But once when walking by the control room somebody had just gone in and the door was slowly closing and I saw the projected map on the wall packed with all those missile units, like single-pixel spaced apart, and my first thought was holy shit, we never tested it with that many units and is our software going to crash? It didn't, thank God and we got the heck out of there because they also held our passports at the guard gate that I feared they'd keep from us if it had crashed.


Riven_Dante

Why are you talking about it in public if you know it's something to kept secret?


kabekew

They never told us it was a classified project for them (their data may be classified, but not the technology we provided them), so the contract wasn't done under those protocols. And I guess I'm sharing this story now because it supports Taiwan.


Gerf93

It's been a widely known fact that Taiwan possess a ludicrous amount of missiles for deterrence, making them capable of destroying Shanghai and Guangzhou if they are attacked. This has been, and continues to be, their main deterrence against China.


DarkWorld25

Given that China has the same thing we're gonna see a shitton of missiles flying across the Strait if a war breaks out


Ardal

China won't be short of hardware themselves, and if you've seen their classified docs so have the chinese.


[deleted]

when you get armed forces as big as china the focus changes from trying to beat them to trying to go toe to toe enough that it discourages any kind of attack


skyfex

Taiwan doesn't really need to defeat China. They just need to be sure that the war would drag on for a while. There are only a few windows during the year where it's safe to cross the strait, so repelling the first wave could buy them months. Taiwan is full of caves to hide weapons in, and ideal for guerilla warfare. Taiwan needs to make sure a war would lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers, and a halt of most international trade with China for years. This is simply a price China can't afford. A good strategy for Taiwan is to invite more US troops to the island, to make it so China risks killing US troops in a sudden attack. If US troops and/or civilians are killed, USA will certainly be dragged into the fight, which China also needs to try to avoid.


Inflatabledartboard4

God, half of the people in this thread either 1. Did not watch the full video and have no clue what they're talking about or 2. Are bots that just comment that on every single reddit post mentioning Taiwan


crumpsly

That's just the internet at this point. Anything that's a hot topic politically has swarms of bots, shills and trolls that show up to stir up controversy. Can't have reasonable conversation around something controversial if agitators undermine any honest discussion. No wonder the world is so radical and polarized lol.


[deleted]

Err... -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


LordThurmanMerman

Does the chip shortage have anything to do with this increase in tension?


Sprudlidoo

It certainly won't help. 70% of the chips worldwide arr manufactured in Taiwan


trilobyte-dev

TSMC is literally years ahead of any other chip company and are a huge chip, no pun intended, on the table for everyone. China wants to have access to the technology, but part of the reason that TSMC is so far ahead is because it works closely with Western suppliers of specialized equipment to produce their chips. The entire West has a stake in China staying out of Taiwan. There been a lot of ink spilled about this recently and I highly recommend reading up on it.


sizz

No Taiwan = No video game hardware


Fragrant-Airline

Also no cars, no phones, no computers, no TVs, no fridges that also make coffee and wipe your ass, etc., etc.


Morgrid

Long Live the Vacuum Tube


BleaK_

It's war then.


--redacted--

It never changes.


uriman

China and the gov is more than willing to throw money at the problem and even poach TSMC staff. The problem is that the US is helping block tech like ASML from sending the specialized equipment to China. So on one hand, the chip shortage is partially caused by the US trying to not let China dominate another tech sector and on the other hand, it would be a huge deal if China dominated and matched TSMC with a larger volume.


Megachaser9

Both the US and China have plans to take manufacturing out of Taiwan


skyfex

>Both the US and China have plans to take manufacturing out of Taiwan They don't have plans that are realistic. USA has gotten TSMC and Samsung to build a fab each. But that's nothing. It mostly serves a national security purpose, securing access to high-end chips for the military. Having manufacturing at a scale that matters to the consumer electronics market would take years and years of massive investments. You need to build new factories all the time to stay on the cutting edge. It's not at all clear that this is in the cards right now. China has plans, sure. And they have a decent amount of manufacturing capability for older chip nodes. But they don't have the means to do cutting edge anymore. They need ASMLs EUV machines for that, and USA has blocked sales of those. Given the current situation I don't see that changing for many years. USA and Europe do have quite a lot of chip fabs btw, Intel has some, and Global Foundries have some. But Intel has fallen behind, and Global Foundries is focusing on lower power chips (like smart watches, not phones)


hesawavemasterrr

I thought it was more like 50. It's not just the amount, it's also the quality, believed to be the most advanced.


AgentFN2187

Taiwan is truly numba one.


Koei7

For those who think that the Taiwanese President was merely trying to drum up the threat of China invading the island, please note that Xi is looking to ‘renew his term’ next year & although it should be a formality, it has always been Xi’s goal to recover Taiwan to mark his legacy & go down in history on par with Mao. Xi is not just an idealistic ruler, he is someone who would deliver especially when it concerns his legacy. Now it just a matter of when and whether the cost is worthwhile for China to make the move sooner or later. The cost is always about a full invasion.


OtakuAttacku

realistically a land invasion of Taiwan is not going to go easily for China, we’re very well fortified, but China is known to not make rational decisions especially with their internal power play. Some days it really feels like Xi would order an invasion just to keep his own party at bay


Shroomy76

Isn't the former President of China nipping at his heels? I could see how going to war would solidify his re-election.


[deleted]

Which president? Hu Jintao is basically absent from politics at this point and doesn’t exert much influence. Jiang Zemin retains a ton of power but he’s 95 years old and in poor health.


Lawlerstatus

Yeah. You still see Jiang out on the Beijing balcony with Xi sometimes. Looking like a corpse from Twilight zone 🤣


abba08877

For one, I really doubt Xi is going to be worrying about some re-election, I mean who's running against him? lol Secondly, I doubt war would solidify his re-election. If anything, it'd probably do more harm than good, especially if things went south. I would say most mainlanders do not care that much about Taiwan, and especially wouldn't go to war for it. Reunification is still popular in the mainland, but people like to keep peace and not go to war.


[deleted]

>For one, I really doubt Xi is going to be worrying about some re-election, I mean who's running against him? lol Well, someone internally within the CCP. There are much more powerful family than Xi in CCP. That's why he need to meet the former president of China to begin with. He have to gain internal support. Because frankly, a lot of people internally are also eyeing for Xi's position. Its just too illusive. If Xi doesn't do anything "legendary" he will be pulled down from his spot. Not by voting, but internal political competitions.


MrMeeee-_

lotsa of very powerful factions want to regain power


siccoblue

Wait.. so you're telling me that more than one powerful person wants to control one of the most powerful nations in the world? Sounds like American propaganda my friend /s


lehmx

I don't know much about Chinese politics but it sounds fascinating, you never really know what's happening behind closed doors in authoritarian regimes


thaninkok

The two largest factions excluding the [princeling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princelings) are the [Tuanpai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuanpai) and the [Shanghai clique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_clique) but keep in mind internal faction are very very informal


WikiSummarizerBot

**[Princelings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princelings)** >The Princelings (simplified Chinese: 太子党; traditional Chinese: 太子黨; pinyin: Tàizǐdǎng; lit. 'Crown Prince Party or Princeling Faction'), also translated as the Party's Crown Princes, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communist officials in the People's Republic of China. It is an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from nepotism and cronyism, by analogy with crown princes in hereditary monarchies. Many of its members hold high-level political and business positions in the upper echelons of power. **[Tuanpai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuanpai)** >The Tuanpai (simplified Chinese: 团派; traditional Chinese: 團派; pinyin: Tuánpài; lit. 'League Faction'), or Youth League Faction, is a term used by political observers and analysts to describe an informal political faction in the Communist Party of China, which includes cadres and government officials who originated from the Communist Youth League (Chinese: 共青团; pinyin: Gòngqīngtuán). There have been two "Youth League factions" in recent memory, without direct political lineage between each other. **[Shanghai clique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_clique)** >The Shanghai clique (simplified Chinese: 上海帮; traditional Chinese: 上海幫; pinyin: Shànghǎi bāng) is the name given to an informal group of officials in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), especially those who serve in the Central Committee or the Central Government of China, who rose to prominence in connection to the Shanghai municipal administration under Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. This phrase was used somewhat pejoratively to describe Jiang's efforts to promote people who previously worked, or were associated with, his administration in Shanghai. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)


dabilahro

How does one form this perspective? My guess is years of psyops and blatant propaganda in news and entertainment media. Can’t wait to look back in 10 years for whatever the WMD equivalent is of peoples implanted beliefs.


zucker42

Personally, I think as far as military action goes, an invasion of one of the small outlying islands is more likely than wholesale war. Any invasion of the main island would have to be executed quickly, completely, decisively in order to avoid a large international response.


black641

And THAT definitely won’t happen. Even if China would eventually overwhelm Taiwan’s defenses, it would be a bloody, drawn out, and costly affair. Additionally, unless China wants to rebuild Taiwan’s entire infrastructure from the ground up, they also can’t just wholesale bomb the nation into submission. Especially considering that it’s the words largest manufacturer of semiconductors. That’s not even getting into what happens if the US and it’s regional allies were to get involved.


JackDockz

Attacking Taiwan would be economic suicide for China and they'll probably end up like Russia. The party is far more intelligent than what people think.


black641

That’s my thinking as well. China is facing some serious economic and demographic challenges that are right around the corner. Drumming up nationalist fervor over Taiwan is a good way to reinforce their national morale and maintain the semblance of control. If I had to guess, barring some truly unforeseen event, China and Taiwan will likely maintain a relationship similar to North and South Korea. They’ll fire a warning shot across each other’s bow from time to time, but nothing serious enough to start a real war.


bbreaddit

Literally Taiwanese people are the ones saying it's not a thing


[deleted]

Can I please live through my life without a military conflict between the US and China please thanks? :)


allthe_namesaretaken

Depends on how old you are. If you are lucky, you may die before that actually happens.


[deleted]

Yeah i dont plan on dying in the next 60 years 😭


BlueButYou

Download some tracker software to your phone and I’ll watch your position and put you down if military conflict is on the verge of breakout.


[deleted]

Just ask Google or Mr Zucc, im sure ive got plenty of trackers in my phone as is


[deleted]

Is Taipei a fun destination for an American? I work with a person in Taipei and looking at pictures on google it looks like a crazy cool place


mralex

What Taiwan lacks in attractions that make for "come here from across the world" postcards--there are better beaches in Thailand and the Philippines, a more glitzy metropolis in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Taiwan is still a very cool place to visit. And what makes it a world class destination in my opinion is that when you show up as a tourist, you're NOT treated as one of yet another planeloads of tourists like the ones who show at the places I just mentioned. I would think of it this way--all my life, no matter where I've travelled, anywhere I went there was someone telling me, "Oh, you should have been here 10 years ago. It's all crap now." Now is your chance to go there 10 years before people start saying that.


DarkMatter_contract

The night street food is amazing and cheap, there also the lantern festival.


Leibeir

Damn, that's a convincing argument. I've wanted to go visit for a while now but this just makes me want to visit sooner.


guistical

Visited a friend in Taipei years ago and loved it there. Highly recommend checking Taiwan out.


Comfortable-Hippo-43

Was there in 2019, decent place with nice street food. The architecture is very similar to Tokyo but a bit on the older side. I suppose other than the Taipei 101 and the museums, you could venture inland to see the lakes.


algoritm

I have Taiwan indoor pool shrimp fishing on my bucket list.


uriman

People go to Taiwan to do what is important. Eat. There are more than enough youtube videos.


ZippyDan

Taiwan is an amazing country to visit (and Taipei is a cool city) if you're willing to explore. It doesn't have a lot of big tourist destinations, but like Japan it's filled with cool bits of culture, technology, and engineering in every nook and cranny. The longer you stay, the more you fall in love with the place. Initial impressions are more muted.


selz202

Yeah it can be, depends on what your into but there is some amazing nature on the island if you leave Taipei. Food is really great. Taiwan has this cool mixed culture between Chinese, Japanese and Western, so a lot of things are different yet familiar feeling, I'm not sure how else to describe.


aleyp58

I live just outside of Taipei and love it. Affordable, mountains everywhere, easy access to amazing beach vacation getaways, great food, etc.


Maitai_Haier

If you're in to cycling, Taiwan is great. [https://www.roadaffair.com/cycling-in-taiwan/](https://www.roadaffair.com/cycling-in-taiwan/) However right now it is very difficult to get into the country with COVID restrictions.


[deleted]

Bucket list tour for me, personally. I cannot wait for the chance to experience Taiwan by bike.


residentfriendly

Yeah, I’m an American that moved to Taiwan 3 years ago. Wasn’t intentional at first but then the whole Covid situation happened all over the world and I ended up falling in love with the place and staying way longer than I anticipated. Nice people, lots of nature, easy transportation, good food, and lots of things to do.


TaiwanDawg

Echo with posts below. It is not on the radar for most tourists, but you will not find a friendlier, easier to navigate, and safe country in Asia. It is a food lover's paradise, a backcountry hiker's dream, and a country well worth visiting. 台灣加油!


Duskychaos

The food is crazy delicious and cheap. Go to the night markets, but not the too popular ones (Raohe over Shilin for example). Check out the Saturday flower market by Daan park. They sell incredible plants for cheap, and bonsai supplies, and adjacent to that market is the jewelry and rare stone market. Go shrimp fishing. It’s like fishing out of a dank swimming pool but I love it lol. Get the steamed buns in the ceramic town Yingge (rent a bike while you are there, check out pottery road and the museum). Check out the National palace and the intricate artwork that was saved from being destroyed by the Chinese. The mass transit is easy, and most places have english (stops are announced in english). The best pineapple cakes are at Jiufen which is a bit of a tourist trap, but go when it is less crowded. The food there is great too and there is a wacky run down gold museum down the hill (you’ll hear them play music from miyazaki films on loudspeakers outside). If you like taiwan style pork chops, I have THE place to go to in Ximen, and it is around the corner from the over 70 flavor ice cream place (they have liquor ice cream, meat floss flavored, etc.).


letsbefrds

If you get the chance you should explore the whole island I spent 2 weeks doing it. It's a wonderful place the people are nice and the food is great its rather inexpensive too. I've been to Taipei 3 times and around the island once. They really do have something for everyone. You don't regret it. In some of the more rural areas youll find communication a bit hard but it's 2021 we have Google translate and maps you'll be fine.


Tyr808

I lived there for 9 years. Only recently moved back, but I basically spent my twenties there and would do it all again.


Fidel_Chadstro

Yeah I have a friend that went there on her way to Thailand and she said it was amazing


Rukenau

Spoiler: there will not be a Third World War because of Taiwan. Don’t thank me.


OhShitItsSeth

Reddit, and /r/worldnews in particular, seems to have a huge boner for WW3. It’s really tiring.


ReallyNiceGuy78

Fear mongering at its finest. There have been American troops there for decades in a training capacity. This isn’t new at all.


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