The biggest military fiction. Taiwan being able to defend & the US being able to assist in its defense.

Name some of the biggest lies your nation's military tells its people.  Just think about it for a second.  Now think about all the alliances around the world.  Think about which ones will actually be followed thru...which ones are iron clad and which ones are cute little fictions that are told.

Done yet?

Good.  Now let me tell you the biggest military fiction to be found on the planet.

Taiwan will be able to defend itself against a Chinese invasion.  The US will rush to Taiwan's aid in the event of an invasion.  Finally the combined might of the US and Taiwan with MAYBE the assistance of others in the region will be able to retake the island in the event that the Chinese establish a foothold/successfully take it.

Sorry boys and girls.  Ain't happening.

No matter how you slice it, we are victims of time and distance.  The Chinese are too close, we're too far away and the Taiwanese have been so thoroughly infiltrated that success is impossible.

Look at the Chinese order of battle.

Count numbers.

Do the same for Taiwan.

The results of your count should be obvious.  Taiwan will fall.

The curious thing?

Remember the proposal (don't know where it came from) to forward position US Marines on the island? If that was followed thu then the calculations change dramatically depending on the size of the force.  Put a Platoon forward and its pretty much the same.  Make it a Battalion and suddenly you have enough Marines in harm's way where abandonment or rapid evacuation becomes impossible when ships show up on the horizon.  Additionally you have the spectre of a Battalion of Marines "cutting and running" or being destroyed by Chinese forces.  That would require a full scale military push if not to save the Taiwanese then to save the Marines.

That proposal would have signalled our determination for Taiwan to remain free.

But we didn't bite.

Which means that this conversation has already occured at the highest levels of the Pentagon/State Dept/National Command Authority.

Only one thing remains a mystery.  Why do we continue to sell advanced weapons to that state?

My guess?

I imagine we either have anti-tampering devices installed, trojan horse software if captured/duplicated or something I can't even imagine going on.

Regardless.  Taiwan is already gone...they just don't know it.  Give it another decade and I'd bet they vote to reunite with the mainland.