Is WAR on the horizon?

[GL_Storm]

Then too, do you think Vietnam, Japan, The Philippines, and Australia would stand by and watch? Maybe India would, but I doubt it. China doesn't have too many friends in the area (North Korea?) and the Vietnamese beat the Chinese army the last time they engaged. India as well. Still, one never knows.

Yes, they would stand by and watch. They might not be happy about it, but they would not intervene. If Taiwan is invaded, it will be up to the US to defend it. Australia might help the US, but that is not at all certain.

I still think an invasion is unlikely, but it is not impossible. This is the war the US is preparing for right now, that the Marine Corps is being reconfigured for, which is dumb, but that's a different topic.

The other countries could get involved if the war escalated beyond Taiwan. I mean, yes, if the Chinese invade Taiwan then logically you have to see that as a play for further domination of the South China Sea. But it still isn't a territorial violation of those other sovereign states.

[Donn Beach]

In today's news actually

The US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines - a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

With the deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.

The missing link had been the Philippines, which borders two of the biggest potential flashpoints - Taiwan and the South China Sea