Taiwan in T2K

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by RN7

Even if Taiwanese forces were not present on mainland China I would be certain that US air and naval forces would be based in Taiwan during the Sino-Soviet War and the first year of the Twilight War. I could not see Taiwan being blanketed with nuclear strikes by the Soviets, but certainly a few low yield nukes against a few ports and airfields to deny them to the Americans.

Agreed. Unless Taiwan both refused to assist the PRC (either directly or as a transshipment point for war materials) AND refused to allow the U.S. to base military assets there once the U.S. entered the war, Taiwan would almost certainly get nuked by the Soviets. At the least, targets would be U.S. base sites and oil refineries. At the worst, Taiwan's manufacturing sector would get it too.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Agreed. Unless Taiwan both refused to assist the PRC (either directly or as a transshipment point for war materials) AND refused to allow the U.S. to base military assets there once the U.S. entered the war, Taiwan would almost certainly get nuked by the Soviets. At the least, targets would be U.S. base sites and oil refineries. At the worst, Taiwan's manufacturing sector would get it too.

I think you have to look at what happened to Thailand (or the lack of what happened to Thailand) as an indication of where the Soviets might not have used nukes - after all Thailand is a US ally and a great place to base US planes and ships - but you dont see nuke damage there - still I agree if you had US ships using one port a lot that port might just get a nice nuke saying hello to it

in general though unless the Taiwanese go out of their way to make themselves a target there are a lot better uses for Soviet nukes in Asia