Yeah, back when it was during the Chinese civil war before it was resolved with handing the Beijing government the official seat of China.
Are you historically illiterate?
China doesn't arm Anti-US non state actor because China is mostly a pacifist state. That doesn't mean China cannot do it on principle, but giving nukes would be nothing short of retarded, and it would rightfully make them into a pariah state.
End of discussion which is frankly off topic.
"The US removed nukes from Taiwan after signing a piece of paper with China, they never turn back on their words and thus would never do it again"
"The US is scared of becoming a pariah state, so it doesn't militarily intervene on the world stage"
Who is naive and historically illiterate?
So why do you think Americans will do something that will lead to the loss of Taiwan？The most important bargaining chip of the United States is its ambiguous attitude towards Taiwan，Americans are unwilling to promise that they will carry out military intervention, but at the same time they declare that they will "help" Taiwan.
The Americans cleverly used the Chinese government's mentality of trying to avoid military conflicts in exchange for economic benefits, but they should not make the Chinese feel that there is no possibility of compromise.
You haven't followed the recent shift in US strategies, which accept China can and will take Taiwan militarily. US already openly called for strategies to make things as difficult for China as possible. The scenario I've suggested using tactical nukes is in line with current US thinking.
What he said is true that the scenario is extremely unlikely but it does at least still need to be considered because the situation or dynamic may change which could make it look like a good action to take for the US. Currently there's a lot of risk and factors holding the US back from using this option, like
@Biscuits mentioned where US would be seen as an aggressor in the region making them lose standing in the region, unintentionally starting a war which have huge political, economical and military uncertainties, and normalization of nuclear proliferation to countries and non-state actors.
If "the countries in the region" don't see US as the aggressor after Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc,. What makes you so sure they will see the US as the aggressor if they deploy tactical nukes in Taiwan? East Asia is full of US puppets, SEA too. Besides US already has nukes deployed in Guam, more nukes in Taiwan doesn't really change the security for SEA countries.
I don’t see the point of discussing a nuclear Taiwan when it just goes to 2 scenarios. China will be forced to militarily fight Taiwan regardless. This isn’t an if for China. It won’t return to the status quo even if Taiwan gives up the nukes because credibility and trust with the West will be completely shattered. China will be in an “all or nothing” move.
1) China invades Taiwan and Taiwan doesn’t uses nukes. (US joins or not = basically what we previously discussed.)
2) China invades Taiwan and Taiwan uses nukes against China which then will launch retaliatory strikes against the US.
Doesn’t matter if the US joins or does nothing because the moment a nuke is used on China or Taiwan then it will have already spiral out of control and go global. There is only 2 thing Taiwan can nuke. Heavily populated mainland city or themselves. Either cases means any liberal or moderate CCP are immediately ousted and fanatic nationalism with CCP hardliners take over the decision making table.
Nukes in Taiwan, under US or Taiwan control is absolutely a possible contingency. Why do people think the US will just wait and let China reunite without paying a price. The US has a history of military escalation by placing nukes in short distance of its rivals, I don't see why they wouldn't try again with China. US deploying nukes in Taiwan doesn't mean the nukes must be used against China, but it significantly changes the reunification scenario.
For starters, it immediately puts pressure on China, at a time when China isn't optimized to intervene militarily yet. If the US deployed tactical nukes in Taiwan today do you think China would militarily intervene ASAP? I have my doubts, the earliest is after the 20th national congress. Can China still move at its own timeline and stand the domestic political pressure for a few years?
Second, it limits the possible options China has to reunify, making a dialogue-based reunification almost impossible, it's not like the US doesn't have a history of sabotaging peace talks and provoking armed conflicts (Ukraine vs Russia).
Third, it is in the US benefit to escalate China's reunification to the nuclear level, this is because this is one of the few areas where the US still has an advantage over China. Rising the stakes over a regional or global nuclear conflict can deter or delay China's military operation to reunite Taiwan.
I don't see why many in this thread are dismissive about the possible scenario of US deploying tactical nukes to Taiwan. Isn't the whole point of this thread to discuss PLA
strategies regarding Taiwan? I don't see why this must be limited to conventional weapons.
