Not the Headlines - Nuking Taiwan

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The Listening Tube presents not the headlines.

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I'm Bob Woodley from the Listening Tube. The United States is poised to recommend selling $14 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan. By definition, it will be defensive military equipment because of the parameters of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. The U.S. will provide Taiwan with defensive weapons as a deterrent to Chinese aggression. The Chinese Communist Party doesn't like a democratic government just off the coast of the mainland. It's kind of the same way the United States doesn't like Cuba, a communist regime, being just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. For a long time, the Soviet Union and then Russia provided support for Cuba and helped defend it against American aggression, both real and imagined. As it turned out, Cuba's supporters have lost their ability to provide military and monetary support to the regime. Venezuela was Cuba's last hope, and now that's off the table thanks to the regime change there. Cuba is now an island, both literally and figuratively. Cuba is running out of everything, including fuel, and the communist government has no idea how to fix it. Or they can't admit that capitalism is the way to fix it. But it's highly unlikely that the lack of support that will eventually lead to the failure of the communist regime in Cuba will lead to the failure of a democracy in Taiwan. Frankly, I'm surprised the Chinese haven't infiltrated the Taiwanese government enough to make it bend to their will. Maybe the Chinese just aren't as good at that kind of thing as we assume they are. After all, they've been trying to subvert the United States government for a long time. I'll admit, they're getting better at it. But that doesn't mean that Taiwan isn't a bone in the throat of the Chinese Communist Party, and the United States is preventing that bone from decomposing and being digested by China. A $14 billion infusion of marrow is now on the table. It's meant to be a deterrent. Only China can decide if it is a deterrent or not. Should China decide that deterrent be damned, we're tired of this nuisance, and despite the billions of dollars of deterrent, there's literally nothing anyone could do if we decided to eliminate the Taiwan problem. Regardless of how China decides to do it. They've been very patient so far. Luckily for Taiwan, Chinese history goes back for thousands of years, and if there's one common trait of the Chinese, it's the ability to think long term. Maybe China's not in a big hurry to end the Taiwan conflict of ideology. Maybe they need a convenient enemy to justify a military posture. Maybe the Chinese find it amusing that the United States is making Taiwan spend billions of dollars simply because of Chinese proximity.

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Because China can take control of Taiwan any day of the week, and there'd be nothing any country could do about it. It's just a matter of how much pride the Chinese government wants to grant to the government of Taiwan. What is China willing to sacrifice in order to make it look like Taiwan was able to put up a fight? How far will Taiwan's allies go to defend it? A conventional conflict would be costly for both sides, and the longer it drags on, the more cumbersome it becomes. Lives lost on both sides would be dramatic. Patriotism on both sides would lead many to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. What is perhaps overlooked is the fact that Taiwan has no problem with China being just offshore. Their weapons are primarily defensive as they have no plans to invade China. Taiwan is armed to the teeth to defend itself and has diplomatic agreements of support. China has consistently toyed with those diplomatic agreements and lodged protests with certain actions by Taiwan or on behalf of Taiwan. They've poked and prodded around the edges of Taiwan's sovereignty, looking for a soft white underbelly, but they haven't found one. That doesn't mean they don't have any options. If China is sincerely adverse to an independent nation that employs a different form of government being so close to it, I say we call their bluff.

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Then China will have nothing left to bitch about. China would have to fund the cost of relocating everyone and be held accountable for the deaths of people who did not or could not leave in time. China will have achieved their goal of isolating their communist regime from the threat of freedom. But the isolation of nuclear contamination is the price they have to pay for the buffer zone they wish to create. Or maybe we could just sprinkle it with the nuclear dust from the underground facilities in Iran. As long as it's completely useless to everyone. Yes, I know this sounds far-fetched, but sometimes you have to declare that you're done being dragged along, and this tension between China and Taiwan needs to end one way or the other. It's time for China to put up or shut up. Demonstrate how serious you are about your opposition to Taiwan once and for all, and if your concerns are purely defensive, then render the island uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. That will give you plenty of time to determine whether or not you feel more secure. I'm not encouraging China to drop a nuclear bomb on Taiwan. I'm only demonstrating how if they did, there wouldn't be anything anybody could do about it. Would another nuclear country retaliate? No. They don't even have to give a two year notice. China could nuke Taiwan tomorrow, and while the world would be surprised for a few days, there would be no retaliation and no penalty imposed that would have any impact on China. Maybe some sanctions that might be the equivalent of a slap on the wrist, but other than that, the damage has already been done, and there would be no way to undo it. The only question is whether or not China is willing to accept the consequences. Does China care about public opinion? No. Does the Chinese Communist Party have moral guidance of any kind? Well, they have no religion, so no. Other than civil law. But when you run a communist government, you get to determine what the laws are. Does China care about the lives that will be lost? Probably not. China has more people than any country other than India. People are nothing more than a commodity to a communist government. When you have as many as China, the deaths of millions is merely an inconvenience. Does China have anything to gain by extending the conflict or pursuing resolution through diplomatic channels? No. Like it or not, China's best option is the nuclear option. If they're not willing to go that far, then Taiwan isn't that much of a threat. Now you might be thinking, but Bob, why doesn't the United States drop a nuke on Cuba then? Well, first of all, we don't have to. The conditions for Cuba to continue to be a communist nation were exposed as not being sustainable. Plus, America cares about public opinion and has morals and standards of diplomacy that it strives to uphold. Dropping atom bombs on places isn't something the US wants to do, having already done it twice. But the reason for it back in 1945 was that it would shorten the war and save millions of lives. That's the same logic China could use to justify nuking Taiwan. But first, Taiwan would have to attack China. That's not likely to happen, but don't be surprised if there's an incident that China claims was a provocation. That could be a prelude to something a little more explosive. Pun intended. Follow the listening tube at thelisteningtube.com. Be sure to enjoy This Week in History and Guest Interviews. Thank you for putting your ear to the listening tube. I'm your host, Bob Woodley, for Thou ad Infinitum.