Not right off the bat, but I could believe they’d respond conventionally, and then it’s a bit of a slippery slope, isn’t it?
I mean, it’s possible the two could wage some sort of polite “flower war” over Taiwan, but I don’t know for sure and don’t want to find out. I’d assume neither does China, regardless of revanchist butthurt.
You’re right that it’s not the Cuban Missile Crisis anymore, but that’s exactly because now everyone is afraid of nukes in a way they hadn’t really grokked in that era. Very much including China, as far as anyone can tell.
It’s not a slippery slope, it’s called an escalation ladder.
Again, you need to stop thinking of this in the historical context of the Cold War and USSR vs USA. Well there are similarities, it is a very different situation for any number of reasons.
Not right off the bat, but I could believe they’d respond conventionally, and then it’s a bit of a slippery slope, isn’t it?
I mean, it’s possible the two could wage some sort of polite “flower war” over Taiwan, but I don’t know for sure and don’t want to find out. I’d assume neither does China, regardless of revanchist butthurt.
You’re right that it’s not the Cuban Missile Crisis anymore, but that’s exactly because now everyone is afraid of nukes in a way they hadn’t really grokked in that era. Very much including China, as far as anyone can tell.
It’s not a slippery slope, it’s called an escalation ladder.
Again, you need to stop thinking of this in the historical context of the Cold War and USSR vs USA. Well there are similarities, it is a very different situation for any number of reasons.