Taiwan in T2K

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by RN7

.But I think it is more likely that they would support the PRC and stay allied to the U.S. for four reasons.

What he said +1.

Personally, I've always found it a bit difficult to understand why the west would have supported China rather than sit back, break out the popcorn and watch. Would seem that the west would have been better off letting the two great communist powers destroy each other.

[Raellus]

I agree that Taiwan would be very unlikely to forge an impromptu alliance with the Soviet Union. I just thought it was a really interesting premise that merited further examination.

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Personally, I've always found it a bit difficult to understand why the west would have supported China rather than sit back, break out the popcorn and watch. Would seem that the west would have been better off letting the two great communist powers destroy each other.

This argument only makes sense if both sides are more or less evenly-matched. It's premised on mutual destruction. What if it appears that one side is going to win quickly and decisively? This is what happens in the T2K v1.0 timeline- the Soviets start steamrolling across Manchuria, annihilating the PRC's front line formations. Early on, it looks like only one side is going to be destroyed, leaving the other unchallenged in East Asia. Why would the U.S. want that?

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Would seem that the west would have been better off letting the two great communist powers destroy each other.

For this to happen, the U.S. has to supply the PRC. It makes perfect sense. If they don't, the USSR defeats the PRC in a year or two, and a major counterbalance to Soviet power in East Asia is permanently removed from the picture. The U.S. would not want this.