Trump Invites China to Invade Taiwan If He Returns to Office (New York Magazine)

[Bucky]

Trump Invites China to Invade Taiwan If He Returns to Office
By Jonathan Chait

Trump, however, is blowing it {US protection of Taiwan} to smithereens. In an interview with Bloomberg, he implied the United States under his presidency would not defend the island from a Chinese attack. “Taiwan is 9,500 miles away,” he explained. “It’s 68 miles away from China.” And he fleshed out his reasons for refusing to defend Taiwan using his familiar gangster logic:

“Taiwan took our chip business from us. I mean, how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business. They’re immensely wealthy … I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy. Why? Why are we doing this?”

The traditional reasons for preventing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan include supporting democracy, which is if anything a negative in Trump’s mind (he admires dictators of all stripes, very much including the Chinese Communist Party). The most important reason is to avoid bloodshed, chaos, and disruption...

Installing a president who neither understands nor believes in that system {global peace balance between Taiwan & China}, and who increasingly feels emboldened to defy the traditional Republicans who surrounded him like court-appointed guardians in his first term, brings risks of terrifying breakdowns. The list has grown so long it is difficult to keep track of them all. But opening the door to a potential war between China and Taiwan alone is enough to disqualify him.