That’s understandable, particularly given that we do NOT have a mutual defense agreement with Taiwan and are under no obligation to defend them as an ally, because they are not a treaty ally.
That said, we have armed and equipped Taiwan much better than we did Ukraine, and in any event, have naval forces in the straits there that would probably deter or at least make China reconsider any invasion.
And if an invasion truly did take place…I suspect we’d get involved, even if we aren’t under any treaty obligation to do so.
Taiwan is quite capable of building nuclear weapons as is Japan. U.S had to secretly talk them out of building them (As we did South Africa under the apartheid regime) wisely so. If Japan decides they can’t depend on the U.S. they’ll go there own way on the nuclear question. Which will not be a good development
Then why did you defend Kyle, who did indeed dispute that? Perhaps he still claims/believes that the Taiwan Relations Act is a mutual defense treaty. It’s not, but he’s yet to acknowledge that fact.
Friendly advice: don’t stick up for people who are wrong.
As far as Taiwan is concerned…when I was at US Army Pacific Headquarters, the official US position was that the United States only recognizes ONE China (the People’s Republic of China), BUT…the China/Taiwan situation is considered to be “unresolved.”
We did indeed have meetings with the Taiwanese Armed Forces. When we did, it was always in civilian clothes though, due to their lack of “official” recognition.
We also had engagements with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Those meetings, however, were conducted IN UNIFORM.
Under NO circumstances, even when we held conferences that included military representatives from around the Indo-Pacific, did we EVER have Chinese and Taiwanese representatives in the same meeting.
If we had ever done that, then the Chinese would almost certainly have gotten up and walked out.
Nelson Mandela got rid of the nuclear weapons once he became President. The apartheid regime in South Africa had built and retained the nuclear weapons.
Do you see any Taiwanese on the signature block? Hint: NO.
The text can say whatever it wants…but it’s NOT bilateral. It’s a unilateral resolution from the US Congress.
It’s not an agreement, and it’s not a treaty.
Only the President and his designated representatives can negotiate and sign a treaty…and it must be signed by representatives on both sides.
The legislative branch cannot, although it can APPROVE treaties.
But making, negotiating, and signing a mutual defense treaty can only be done by the EXECUTIVE branch…and that has NEVER happened between the USA and Taiwan since 1979.
The USA and Taiwan simply do NOT have a mutual defense agreement, and the Taiwan Relations Act is NOT such an agreement, no matter how much you may want to wish or believe to the contrary.
It’s seems logical now why Biden focus shifted dramatically from Afghanistan in August last year. The intelligence back then must have revealed Russia’s imminent move in Europe.
Eerily, Hitler took Czechoslovakia in the same manner and matched on to Poland. Yikes.
Ahhh… The root of the problem… There is not a MUTUAL agreement but there is a law, or Act (i don’t know the difference) in the USA to promote PEACE AND STABILITY for the people ON Taiwan.
And just as France and the UK were bound to defend Poland when the Nazis came marching in, the USA and other NATO signatories are bound by Article V of the NATO charter to come to Poland’s defense should Russia (or anybody else) attack it.
Before the anticipated changeover to a majority-elected African National Congress–led government in the 1990s, the South African government dismantled all of its nuclear weapons, the first state in the world which voluntarily gave up all nuclear arms it had developed itself.
S.A. got rid of them in 1991 before Mandela ruled
Presidency of Nelson Mandela** began on 10 May 1994,