Will the United States defend democratic Taiwan against a possible Communist China's invasion in the future? How much will the US be prepared to defend its ally, Taiwan? A total war for the sake of Taiwan or just let the island be engulfed by China?

At that stage, most likely China may also invade Japan...

Well, our Army is In no position to help, but luckily the struggles of the Middle East keep are Navy preety bored, and you may remember we held large scale Navel Excercises (RotP) In the Pacific this summer, I think we had 7 CBGs In all, quite a force. China, with luck, will have a hard time taking the Island, so militarilly, we could move our Fleets from japan over there. Politically though, I doubt anyone will oppose China, that is unless we had a man like Bush In office.

Probably not.... if Japan were invaded, then yeah, we'd be down there damn fast.

It would prolly be dependent on Taiwan asking for help. If they did, we'd do what we've always done. Park our monstrous navy very closeby, directly inbetween Taiwan and the mainland if need be. Its the same game we've always played. China will stage "military excercises" as close to Taiwan as humanly possible, and the US parks its navy there to make sure they don't try anything. So I don't forsee it being a major issue until the Chinese Navy is stronger than the US Navy in the Pacific.

is there a law to defend Taiwan?

Not sure what you mean.

I mean is there a United States Act to defend Taiwan?
http://usinfo.org/wf-archive/2001/010427/epf501.htm

How is it interpreted?

The official US policy for Taiwan is very complicated indeed. Its complicated all the further by Taiwan having once been the "official China" recognized by the USA. Now it is not, but because of those years that it was, it tangles the web further. Then throw in the great efforts that the USA went to in order to foster better relations with China during the Cold War. Its a messy balancing act to say the least.

Taiwan likely isn't stupid enough to declare unilateral independence from China, but if they did then things wouldn't be much different that they are right now. Taiwan is already a seperate independent country right now.

They are claimed by China. China officially considers them a renegade/rebel province, but has never fully committed themselves to doing anything about it. Simply put, China hasn't yet chosen to risk what might happen by launching an invasion. Everyone knows that Taiwan is, for all intents and purposes, already an independent country and completely outside their control. One wonders if its really worthwhile for China to do anything about Taiwan under any circumstances. Is it worth destroying their credibility in the international diplomatic scene over "official recognition" of what already exists?

Just heard this news,

Simulated drills show Taiwan overrun in 6 days

Simulated drills show Taiwan overrun in 6 days !

TAIPEI - Taiwan's armed forces staged a drill simulating an invasion by China yesterday as a military computer exercise showed that Taiwanese troops could withstand a similar onslaught for just six days.

The scenario of the manoeuvre, the first of two rehearsals for a major exercise to be held on Aug 25, was that Taiwanese troops had failed to hold off an amphibious landing by Chinese forces, TVBS cable television showed.


As the island's troops tried to stop simulated Chinese forces from pushing further inland, a fleet of US-made Cobra gunships fired laser-guided Hellfire missiles while howitzers and tanks fired on targets.

Defence Minister Lee Jye confirmed a report that in a recent computer-simulated exercise, Taiwanese troops were wiped out 130 hours after the People's Liberation Army started invading.

But Mr Lee was swift to urge the Taiwanese not to panic over the outcome of the simulation.

'The computer drill included the toughest scenarios so that we are able to know where our flaws are,' he told reporters.

The Defence Ministry issued a carefully worded statement to describe the computer war games, saying: 'Although the defending troops suffered severe losses, the losses by the invading troops were several times bigger. If we consider it as a war between the two sides, this indicates the enemy will have to pay a painful price.'

Also, the simulated attacks did not include intervention by the US or Japan, the Chinese-language Apple Daily said. -- AFP, Reuters

That aint gonna buy anyone alot of time for helping them...[/url]

Once the Chinese make a succcessful landing, it will only be a matter of time. Even though Tiawan has a top notch military they will simply be overwhelmed with Chinese manpower.

But I don't think China a decent enough navy to make a succesful landing. Taiwan alone without the help of the USA could sink a significant amount of ships to make a successful landing.