Japan, US agree to cooperate if Taiwan and China clash: report

[TT]

for example:

US congressional commission hears China may force Taiwan crisis in 2021

How is Kinmen a better staging area for an invasion of Taiwan than anywhere else on the southeast coast of China? They will not do Kinmen, they will do the uninhibited islands as the first step. Why? Because they, like Kinmen are not part of the Taiwan Relations Act and not recognized as a part of Taiwan, in fact recognized as part of China. From there they will leverage that threat for Taiwan to give China Kinmen and Matsu and you know what, they may get that without a shot being fired.

If China invades Taiwan, should the US intervene militarily?

I didn’t know that (at least, not explicitly). So, not really generous at all? Also, buffers; another reason for Mao to not take it would be to have a buffer with Stalin. Buffers, totally a reason that it is better for China to have Japan, Korea, and the Phils in their sphere of influence rather than have those as US allies without much in the way of buffers (to be fair, on land there is NK). Another good one from the Economist, of course perfect analogies are difficult, so Any more than …