Reply #15: Bush said that because he is an idiot [View All]

The wise course, given the present situation, is of course to stay away. This is a matter for primarily the countries of East Asia to deal with -- as they have been dealing with it for the past 50 years.

Look, China knows full well that invading Taiwan is most certainly NOT in their best interest, just as Taiwan knows that openly provoking the mainland is not in their interest either. There are many more dynamics at play here than simply Taiwan vs. China. Japan has a vested economic interest as well. Taiwan has invested a lot of capital in Vietnam, which has resulted in Vietnam basically taking Taiwan's side against China (not that VN and China have ever been real close anyway). South Korea has also invested in Chinese economic growth, and NK and China are not exactly on good terms.

IOW, the "sides" on this issue are quite complex -- to the point that it's more a tangled web of interests than anything approaching "sides". One of the biggest problems is the US insistence that East Asian issues like this NOT be allowed to be worked out by East Asian nations. Being as clumsy with the cultural issues involved as we are, we usually end up only making a normal situation of diplomacy markedly WORSE due to our own interference.