Taiwan intervention may just spell the end of the West

The horrors of war are so seared into the minds of people that the resultant images in their heads can bias them to picture future conflicts as being like previous ones. The more tragic and terrible the past conflicts, the stronger this bias tends to be.

Hollywood films play a big part in such image-making, but some experts themselves may also be so biased, especially if they are of the older generation. When Americans say their country may be heading towards a civil war, many likely still have a mental image of regular army units fighting each other in pitched battles.

But it’s far more probable that such fighting would resemble the Troubles in Northern Ireland or the more recent civil war in Syria, especially given the existence already of so many militias, armed groups and gun enthusiasts in the US.

Some Americans may also imagine that a conflict between the island of Taiwan, mainland China and the United States would begin with Beijing launching a large-scale D-Day-like amphibious assault.

Thus you have US Naval War College historian Sarah Paine saying: “For the People’s Republic to take Taiwan, I presume it’s going to begin with an artillery barrage. I presume that’s going to be levelling Taiwanese cities. Right? Watch how it goes in Ukraine. I can’t imagine the Chinese being less brutal.”

Presumably she meant a massive artillery barrage would soften the island’s resistance, after which wave upon wave of the People’s Liberation Army would be landing on the shores of Taiwan like on the beaches of Normandy.

South China Morning Post