Crazy take, More likely the US or it's allies goes to war and they try to play up sympathy with the target.

Nobody wants China to take Taiwan, that's not something its possible to convince people of

> Nobody wants China to take Taiwan, that's not something its possible to convince people of

It's not about convincing them to want it but rather about sowing doubt and confusion at the critical moment.

David French's NYT column last week starts with what one might call a "just-plausible-enough" scenario: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/opinion/tiktok-supreme-co... (gift link, yw).

Im not so confident about that. Attenuating isolationist policy in the face of Taiwan is the easiest, but I can see anti-ROC propaganda in the mix.