Reply to Do you know why the U.S. will and should fight a war over Taiwan?

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[quote=Anonymous]DP.  Here's my take on why Taiwan is important.

Political.  They're a long-term U.S. ally.

Military.  They're an important counter-balance to keep sea lanes open.  Otherwise at least two air / naval groups (north / south of Taiwan) would be required to cover the region from a security perspective.  Look at any map and it's obvious that China would be able to completely cut off traffic traversing the Luzan straight through the South China Sea corridor and the Philippine Navy could do squat about it.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/South_China_Sea_Claims_and_Boundary_Agreements_2012.jpg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-05/philippines-says-four-chinese-vessels-tailed-its-navy-ship?leadSource=uverify%20wall

Social. Taiwan somewhat fills the gap left by Hong Kong to bridge many cultural divides between mainland China and the West.  The Taiwanese are able to do things that Western companies and politicians can't at a social level; and is a thorn in the side of the CCP's "one China" policies.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/02/07/why-is-unification-so-unpopular-in-taiwan-its-the-prc-political-system-not-just-culture/

Economic.  If Taiwan was invaded, the U.S. tech industry would be in trouble.

"Taiwan accounts for around 65% of global semiconductor supply, and nearly 90% of the smallest and most sophisticated chips. And one Taiwan-based semiconductor producer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), is alone responsible for 55% of the world’s supply. That’s a more dominant position than OPEC commands in oil production."
https://www.supplychainbrain.com/blogs/1-think-tank/post/36085-does-the-us-need-to-reduce-its-dependence-on-taiwan-for-semiconductors[/quote]

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