1. I generally agree that China has a better chance with hybrid tactics that escalate in ways that meter western response, but Taiwan can force escalation too once it reaches a threshold and it would be within its right to.

2. If Russia, North Korea, South Korea and Japan join in there is a lot of potential for it to scale up. Whether it would become an all out horrific war like a World War or stay a little bottled up, it does risk becoming a huge conflict. Many Americans love South Korea and Japan, though they're less informed about Taiwanese. If South Koreans and Japanese are dying, we will be involved in one way or another.

3. No it won't. Look at what happened with Hong Kong, it broke its promise, just like the CCP breaks many of its promises. Not sure how bad they are compared to Russia in that regard, but it's pretty bad. Besides, if China wants to expand the way it seems like they want to, they need to take Taiwan so I doubt they would slow roll it.

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aurareturn 4 hours ago | parent [-]

2. Americans don't love South Korea and Japan enough to go die for them. You'd have to be insane to believe that.

3. Hong Kong is still a different system last I visited (2024).

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CMay 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Well, South Korea and Japan being involved would just be one factor that makes justification even easier. The real reason would be national and global security. It's in the interest of preservation of freedom. You don't wait until the enemy is at your doorstep, because that means you allowed them to snowball an avalanche at you. You meet them at their doorstep before they've gained full momentum.

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aurareturn 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Do people still believe it’s about freedom?

	▲	CMay an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Absolutely, because it is. Sometimes it's about X, because X is also related to freedom. Let's set X = oil. Oil is a critical resource that is huge for transportation. If you are the one that controls it and people need it from you, that gives you leverage to encourage them to do what you want. An authoritarian country that engages in mass killings and torture of its own people could get away with a lot and even abuse other countries if it has enough oil. You can apply this to nukes and many other things. Like maybe you defend an ally. Why defend an ally? Having them makes you stronger. Why do you need to be stronger? To defend the way of life you believe in.

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sarabande 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Could you please consider making your points without "you'd have to be insane/an idiot to believe X"?

	▲	aurareturn 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fair enough.