It is very funny to see the three major factions of Taiwan shaping out as
The party that wants a war with China
The party that wants war in China and regime change in Beijing so they can take it back over from the outside
The party that wants all the Han invaders from the 1940s to GTFO
And they all hate each other nearly as much as they hate the Chinese communists. But not so much that they are willing to stop doing north of $100B/year in trade with the mainland.
“Regardless of ethnic group, regardless of who came earlier or later, anyone who identifies with Taiwan is a master of the country. Taiwan’s future must be decided jointly by the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said.
George Bush Jr energy, shortly before he sticks the knife in Ted Kennedy’s back.
Taiwan had assurances from USA for decades but now it has little more than a plan to destroy the infrastructure that China would most want to take (chip production) if they invade along with tactics from Ukraine (they’ve been trading drone technology). So Taiwan is stuck betting that China thinks it would be too costly to invade.
I don’t think most Taiwanese want war with the CPC
I don’t think they do, either. The KMT, specifically, wants to preserve the China-Taiwan relationship. Most lay residents just want to get on with their lives.
But from the country’s hawks - particularly expats like Elaine Chao and Ted Lieu - there’s ongoing pressure to climb the escalation ladder and return Taiwan to it’s historical role as forward operating base of the Western powers.
Framing an independence movement this way
When you’re asking for long range missiles staged inside your borders and the capacity to close the Straight as a political lever, you’re beyond the point of an independence movement.
“We must protect our democratic instutitions!”
The Democratic Institutions
It is very funny to see the three major factions of Taiwan shaping out as
The party that wants a war with China
The party that wants war in China and regime change in Beijing so they can take it back over from the outside
The party that wants all the Han invaders from the 1940s to GTFO
And they all hate each other nearly as much as they hate the Chinese communists. But not so much that they are willing to stop doing north of $100B/year in trade with the mainland.
George Bush Jr energy, shortly before he sticks the knife in Ted Kennedy’s back.
Just like with Ukraine, they have stronger claims against the imperialist aggressor country than the aggressor country has against them
I’ve always found Taiwan to be China’s Cuba in that regard.
Of course, China’s policy towards Taiwan is nothing like America’s towards Cuba. But hey, maybe it should be?
Trump is planning military attacks on Cuba. Please no.
People bouncing off the walls about China’s plan to invade Taiwan for over half a century.
But the US ratcheting tensions into the next Bay of Pigs debacle never seems to crack the front pages.
Yeah nobody’s talking about it
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-trump-floats-taking-cuba-islands-president-warns-any-aggression-will-be-met-with-impregnable-resistance/
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-says-he-thinks-he-will-have-honor-taking-cuba-2026-03-16/
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5770748-trump-pressure-cuba-regime-change/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-admin-accelerating-plans-for-cuba-s-collapse-report/ar-AA24hiky
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/06/americas/trump-cuba-pressure-havana-latam-intl
Taiwan had assurances from USA for decades but now it has little more than a plan to destroy the infrastructure that China would most want to take (chip production) if they invade along with tactics from Ukraine (they’ve been trading drone technology). So Taiwan is stuck betting that China thinks it would be too costly to invade.
I don’t think most Taiwanese want war with the CPC. Framing an independence movement this way seems particularly problematic.
I don’t think they do, either. The KMT, specifically, wants to preserve the China-Taiwan relationship. Most lay residents just want to get on with their lives.
But from the country’s hawks - particularly expats like Elaine Chao and Ted Lieu - there’s ongoing pressure to climb the escalation ladder and return Taiwan to it’s historical role as forward operating base of the Western powers.
When you’re asking for long range missiles staged inside your borders and the capacity to close the Straight as a political lever, you’re beyond the point of an independence movement.
We’re in Cuban Missile Crisis territory.